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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28888740">Redemption: Purrsia</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennaFennix/pseuds/JennaFennix'>JennaFennix</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, Multi, Post-Season/Series 05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:48:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>35,119</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28888740</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennaFennix/pseuds/JennaFennix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The best friend squad set out on their quest to restore magic to the universe which puts them on a collision course with the remnants of the horde and a mystery individual who seems to know more about Catra than she knows about herself.</p><p>Redemption: Purrsia takes place directly after the end of the series, with throw backs to the original She-ra series.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Best friend squad. It's time for ADVENTURE!", Bow shouts as he sits down in the pilot seat. </p><p> </p><p>Glimmer flicks his ear as she walks past and gets herself settled near the front console "I'm going to have to talk to Mermista about cutting down your bro time with Seahawk" </p><p>"Oh Ha. Ha.", Bow replied sarcastically.</p><p> </p><p>Adora walks in yawning and putting on her jacket, "Are we leaving now?" </p><p>"mmhmm" Bow hums as he starts typing on the pilots console. He then brings up a map, "There's a distress signal coming from here, but I don't know from what exactly" </p><p>Adora rubs her tired eyes trying to focus on the little blinking blue light on the map, then her eyes widen, "wait, that can't be right…. That's a first ones signal!" </p><p>Bows face becomes serious and he sits forward on the seat, "what's it saying?" </p><p>Adora steps closer to the map and studies the flashing "31.5 degrees….." she waves a hand at Bow "they're coordinates, here put these in 31.5 degrees and minus 12.8 degrees" Bow types in the coordinates and zooms in on the closest planet "There! Prison Moon!"</p><p> </p><p>"Prison Moon, that sounds ominous" Catra says, Adora looks through the map at Catra, her back leaning against the door frame, she looks her up and down and then smiles her dorky smile, “Is that my old horde shirt?”</p><p>Catra blushes “Well i didn’t bring anything other clothes for this impromptu mission so….”, everyone tries to stifle their laughter, Catra’s ear prick up and her tail stiffens and she marches over to stand next to Adora and looks at the blinking light on the map, “SO! What's happening near Prison Moon?”, Adora focuses back on the task at hand, “There’s a first ones ship sending out a distress signal”</p><p>“How is that possible, I thought this ship was the only one”, Catra sounded surprised.</p><p>“Well it was the only one on Etheria” Bow added “Out here though, there could be hundreds or even thousands!”.</p><p>“How long do you think it’ll take us to get there?”, Adora asked, still studying the blinking light.</p><p>Bow types for a second and then the ship slowly turns left and starts to gain speed.</p><p>“Well after some tinkering from myself and Entrapta...actually mainly Entrapta….it shouldn't take long…”, the ship was gaining even more speed, Bow warned “Uh you guys might want to hold onto something”</p><p>Catra looked scared “What?! Why?!”</p><p>Outside the ship the universe looked like it was expanding and contracting against the ship, then suddenly there was a bright flash of light accompanied by a loud bang almost like thunder. Catra, Adora and Glimmer all landed on the floor with a loud thud, Catra hissed because Adora’s butt landed on her tail “Sorry, Sorry!”, she stood up and helped Catra up, Glimmer was already on her feet looking out the window</p><p>“Uh guys you might want to come see this”</p><p>Adora, Catra and Bow walked over to see what Glimmer was looking at. Outside was a first ones ship with a giant hold ripped out the side of it, the engines were already floating past some of the horde ships surrounding it, the area around the ship lit up with the colour of red and green lasers.</p><p> </p><p>Adora pointed “There! There must be people inside, I have to go help!”. Catra calls out after her “Wait! I’m coming with you”, Adora thinks for a moment and then nods “Ok let’s go”.</p><p> </p><p>As they leave and the door closes behind them Bow and Glimmer hear “For the honour of Grayskull!”.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Catra finishes putting on her gear, making sure the seal around her helmet is air tight. She hears a quiet growl behind her. She turns her head to see Melog sitting there waiting patiently, “You’re ready too huh?”. Melog gives a soft growl in agreement, they both go and stand next to She-ra. She presses the intercom, “Ready Bow”</p>
<p>“Ok opening the doors now….good luck”</p>
<p>The doors make a hiss as they open slowly, Bow has gotten them as close to the ship as possible, Catra sits on the back of Melog and they all jump from the opens doors and land inside the ships broken hull, a handful of Horde Prime robots have turned around at the sound of Catra and She-ra entering the ship, they both make light work of the robots leaving a trail of broken parts sizzling and spitting green sparks on the floor. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>They now hear conflicting sounds, from one corridor they hear cries for help and from another corridor they hear more fighting, She-ra and Catra look at one another and nod in silent agreement. She-ra runs towards the fighting, Catra and Melog take off towards the cries for help as they run down the corridor towards the cries for help Catra notices they don’t seem to be getting any closer, Melog seems to sense something as well and comes to a stop, Catra gets off Melog and looks behind her and corridor seems longer than it did before, but also longer in the other direction, Catra’s ears twitch as the air of the corridor feels unease, Melog mane shifts to a orange colour. Catra’s eyes narrow “Wait i recognise this, this is your kind of mag-”, suddenly something struck her hard in the back and Catra flew forward landing on her stomach hard, she grunted and started to get up from the floor, when her ears twitched as sensed an incoming attack she quickly dodged out of the way, flipping over and perching on the balls of her feet, the attackers foot still hit the floor with a loud thud. Catra looked up to see her attacker, the hooded figure was slightly taller than Catra and wearing some kind of uniform she didn't recognise.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The attacker launched themselves forward again which Catra easily sidestepped and landed a blow into the attackers stomach along with the audible sound of having the wind knocked out of them, they stumbled back before catching their footing.Catra and the attacker stood across from each other for what seemed like an eternity, Catra got sick of waiting and grunted as she sprung forward the attacker easily dodged and nimbly jumped on Catra’s back and pushed her into the floor before landing back on their feet, Catra hit the floor hard it took her a moment to get back to her feet, She closed her eyes to regain her equilibrium when she opened them she looked in the attacker’s direction as they started running away they whistled and Catra’s eyes widened as the magic dissipated and a creature exactly like Melog appeared running at the same pace as the attacker. “Adora…”, Catra said as she struggled to get up, Melog used her nose to help Catra onto it’s back ,”We have to get back to Adora!”, Melog took off after them.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She-ra concentrated as she waited for the Horde prime robots to gather around, waiting for the perfect opportunity, she raised her sword and made a diagonal slash a bright rainbow light emanated from the slash and passed through the remaining robots. They buzzed and shook with green sparks coming for the cuts and then collapsed into a heap on the floor, she smiled. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“ADORA! WATCH OUT!” she spun around at the sound of Catra’s voice, she saw her coming on the back of Melog, but then something materialised in front of her and before she could react two feet made direct contact with her chest and she went flying backwards digging the sword into the floor to slow her down. The attackers landed safely on their feet “Tamerian!” they called out, the Melog lookalike materialised next to them, their skin was a deep purple and their mane a vibrant pink.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Catra snarled and shouted “Oh no you don’t!. Melog!” She jumped off Melog and it launched directly at Tamerian and tackled it to the ground, the attacker turned their head towards Catra, She-ra got to her feet on the other size, now the attacker was trapped in the middle of the both of them She-ra was the first to make a move swinging her sword almost connecting the attacker stumbles back directly into a kick from Catra and falls landing hard on their back. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She-ra and Catra close in on the attacker, as they get closer the attacker puts up both its hands and a small bead of light radiates from them as the light grows exponentially it washes over the face of the attacker who is wearing a breathing mask, Catra is the first to notice that the eyes staring back at her are exactly the same as hers. Before she can say anything the energy balls fly from the attackers hands one hits Catra and she goes flying back against the wall, she tries to move then looks up and realises her hands are frozen solid against the metal. She growls and struggles to get free.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The other energy ball heads straight towards She-ra, who easily dodges it by hitting it with her sword and a solid ball of ice hits the wall directly next to Catra “HEY!”</p>
<p>“Sorry!” She-ra says without looking as she walks directly towards the attacker who seems to be panicking and crawling backwards trying to escape , “Nice try” She-ra closes the gap and picks the attacker up by the collar of their hood with one hand and throws them across the room. The attacker's back hits a column and they are knocked out cold and their body slumps to the floor. She-ra goes over and cuts Catra down, she rubs her wrists to get warmth back in them “That stuff is cold” her voice trailed off. She looks over to where the attacker is and notices Tamerian trying to nudge them awake; it doesn’t work so they lie down next to the attacker.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Melog trots over to Catra and quietly growls something, She-ra looks at her “What did Melog say?”, but Catra ignores her and walks straight over to the attacker with urgency, Tamerian’s mane stands up on edge, Melog is there and defuses the situation by touching their forehead against Tamerian’s, Catra smiles softly “it’s ok i just want to help”, they calm down and step back allowing Catra to get closer, she kneels down and rolls the attacker over on their back.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She-ra is now behind her as Catra tentatively pulls off the hood of the attacker “Catra, what is going- ooooooooh”. She-ra and Catra stare in stunned silence as the attacker looks just like an older version of Catra, the silence doesn’t last long as Catra starts having an existential crisis. “ "I don't understand, how, how is this possible, I thought, I thought..." </p>
<p> </p>
<p>She-ra kneels down beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "hey, hey it's ok we'll figure this out. Let's bring her back to ship till she wakes up” .Tamerian sniffs the air around She-ra before moving aside and letting her pick up the attacker, they walk back to the ship in silence where Bow has lowered a platform down for them. They get on the platform and it slowly raises. Glimmer and Bow are waiting for them when they arrive. Glimmer is the first to speak, "you guys ok we heard people crying out for help and.....", Glimmer notices She-ra carrying the Catra lookalike "wait what?!?!" She-ra head motions towards Catra, who still looks bewildered and confused; she now has both Melog and Tamerian by her side. She-ra starts moving towards corridor Bow gasps "is she real?!" , She-ra grunts as she carries through the door of a spare room "uh well she feels real..."</p>
<p> </p>
<p>She-ra lays her down and changes back into Adora, “If nothing else she can tell us what happened here”. Her face becomes worried. “I have to go check on Catra”, she leaves the room quickly leaving Glimmer and Bow staring at a familiar face.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The next day Adora rolls out of bed, she looks behind her and notices the other side hasn’t been slept in, she sighs and begins tidying up her hair. She walks out of the room straightening her shirt and adjusting her belt, she greets Bow who is once again sitting in the pilot seat and eyes drift over and she notices Catra sitting on the window ledge with her arms folded around her legs looking out the window.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I know that look" she sits behind her gently placing her hands on Catras, matching her embrace. "once she wakes up we'll get answers", Catras purrs and rests her head back on Adoras chest. "I hope so", Catra says with a sigh, she looks over to Tamerian and Melog who seems to be quite fond of each other as they are curled up together asleep. "I just always thought I was alone in the world", Adora replies sarcastically "not while I'm around" and kisses her head, Catra giggles "you know what I mean... Back in the fright zone we were...". Adora cuts her off "orphans, I know, but you and I both know that the horde lied about a lot of things so It's not surprising that they would lie about us having fami......"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra growls and springs around covers Adoras mouth. "no don't say it!", she sighs and rests her forehead in Adoras chest "things have finally been normal, this is just going to make things....complicated and not normal", Adora holds Catra close, Catra responses by curling up against Adora and quietly starts to purr again "the difference is I'm here with you so we can go through the complicated and not normal stuff together". Catra giggles "you're so lame".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bow interrupts them “uh guys, look”, he motions towards Tamerian who is now sitting near the door, its mane a deep amber colour. Catra gets off the window ledge and walks over to Tamerian then scratches behind its ear. ,”They must be awake”, Adora gets up ready to go with Catra, “No” , Catra says without turning around, she pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath, “I need to do this alone, ok” , Adora walks over and takes Catra’s hand “Are you sure?”, Catra closes her eyes and nods “I’m going to have to face them sooner or later right”, she aggressively hits the button to open the door “Come on, Melog” before walking through the door, Melog slowly runs over as he passes Adora she notices that its mane has turned the same deep amber colour.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra felt her thoughts weighing her down as she walked down the corridor, made it seem longer than it actually was, Tamerian was walking ahead as Melog kept pace with Catra, Melog gently nudges Catra’s hand, she gives an uneasy smile “I’m ok....i think”. Catra stopped as her ears twitched at the sound of a husky voice “Ah Tamerian i was wondering where you got to”, as Catra approached Tamerian had its paw up on the aura barrier that Glimmer had placed on the entrance of the room, Catra stood just off to the side of Tamerian while they gave soft and excited growls to the rooms inhabitant who was kneeling down with their hand up meeting Tamerian’s paw. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra finally had a moment to observe the woman meticulously. She noticed that without the hood disguising her face and body she was quite brawny, Catra made a note that her hair was similar to her own hair when she was back in the fright zone, except this woman had hers tied up in a ponytail, the most astounding part was the fur markings the stripes on her arms where in almost the exact same place. The woman seemed to sense someone was watching her and looked up directly at Catra.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Not who i was expecting to greet me”, she laughs to herself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s eyes narrow, “who were you expecting?”, The woman stood up and leaned against the barrier, a small aura outlining where her arm touched. “The tall one, I wanted to thank her for knocking me out like that, I haven't slept like that in months” she smiles. Catra didn’t respond. The woman shook her head , “I’m guessing you’re not in a joking mood”. Catra snarls “You’re a prisoner right now and you think making jokes is going to help?!”. The woman shrugs her shoulders “I mean Tamerian is out there instead of in here, so am i really being held as a prisoner?”, Catra went to reply but then didn’t say anything.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The woman stopped leaning and stood up facing Catra, “Let’s try this again, I’m Kywa and you are?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra'', Melog pokes its head out from around Catra’s legs. Kywa smiles “I see you’ve been to Krytis” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How do you know about Krytis?”, Kywa folds her arms and looks at her questioningly, “I would think the same way you knew about Krytis”. Catra looks down at Melog whose mane has returned to its normal colour."Well Melog was supposed to be the last of their kind..."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa sighed heavily, "possibly once horde prime started attacking my kin-...home couldn't protect Krytis". Catra stepped closer "where exactly is YOUR home?", Kywa stayed silent for a moment. “Purrsia, have you never heard of it?”, Catra rolls her eyes, “You’re making that up”, Kywa laughed “I am not, trust me the irony isn't lost on me”, Catra rests her back on the wall beside the barrier, “Does everyone there look like us?”, Kywa frowns “Not everyone”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra?”, Adora approaches “You were taking a while, so i thought i better check on you….Oh hi”, Adora notices Kywa and blushes. Catra frowns and shoves her back ,”I’m fine, you need to go and get sparkles to come unlock this room”.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Bow sits starry eyed at the makeshift table that has been setup for breakfast, he suddenly holds his cheeks and shouts,”So you mean to tell me, there’s a planet filled with cat people AND it’s called Purrsia!” , Glimmer massages her temples and sighs “Why?, Why are you being like this, you’ve already asked this question multiple times!”, Bow grabs Glimmer by the shoulders ,”But it’s a planet! Full of CAT PEOPLE! And we are going there!”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Across from them sits Catra who sighs heavily “ugggggh”, she rests her forehead on the table, Adora sits to her left and giggles as Bow and Glimmer continue to bicker, Kywa looks bewildered, leaning on her hand to one side. “Is he always like this” . Catra and Adora answer in unison “Yes”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa turns her attention to the breakfast bun on her plate and pulls off a small portion and eats it ,”Thank you for taking me home, it’s been awhile”, Adora turns to face Kywa, one arm on the table “What were you even doing at Prison Moon?”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Rescue mission, the horde had taken an interest in, shall we say, some pretty powerful individuals" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catras ears prick up and she sits up to join the conversation, "what exactly do you mean by powerful individuals?" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa leans back in her chair putting her arms behind her head. "there was a settlement in Etheria that Purrsia has always been tasked to protect, place called Half-Moon", Glimmer turns away from Bow to face Kywa, "I've heard of Half-Moon, apparently grand illusionists lived there once, but it’s been abandoned for some time now" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa leans forward "on the surface yes, after the horde invaded one of my tasks was to help hide the Magicats". Bow eyes sparkle again. Glimmer puts up her hand "Don't!" Bow pouts and puts his head down.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora looks confused. "Wait, how did you even get to Etheria? It would've been in Despondos then? ", Kywa nodded, "That it was, however the ship you guys rescued me from had the ability to create a portal gate, granted making a portal from the ship can burn through a months supply of Thulite so it wasnt something we used very often"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra shudders, Adora notices and places a hand on her shoulder and squeezes reassuringly, Kywa continues, "so the best thing to do was to keep them in hiding underground until we could get them to Purrsia safely" , Adora ponders this for a moment, “Ok so where does you being near Prison Moon come into it?”, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Bow pipes up, “If i had to guess, it must have something to do with wormholes?”, Kywa snaps her fingers, “Correct, Prison Moon was the best jump point to get across to get close enough to Half-Moon, but this time seems the horde was waiting for me, luckily i hadn't opened the portal gate”, “How close could we have come to the horde getting a hold of the Magicats?”, Glimmer muses. Kywa shook her head ,”it would not have turned out well for anyone”. Adora frowns “these Magicats could’ve helped horde prime?”, “There were stories back in Bright Moon about how powerful the Magicats were, horde prime would’ve wiped the floor with us if he even got close to getting one of those mind control chips on them”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The disembodied voice of Darla interrupted the conversation. "We will arrive soon at the destination of…..Purrsia".</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa excitedly gets up from the table, "We should probably announce ourselves before landing" ,“On it”, Bow hurriedly heads over to the pilot seat and sits down and Kywa stands behind him.“Ground control come in, Request for immediate landing”, a radio crackling to life echoes through the ship “Major Kywa?! Is that you?” comes a nervous male voice, “Yes are you going to let me land or what?”, “Uh Yes. Yes Ma’am!”. Kywa smiles to pats Bow on the shoulder.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As the ship starts to land, the ground is a buzz with anthropomorphic cats going about their day, some of them stop and watch the ship being guided down to the ground by a skinny ginger and white ground marshal.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra stares wide eyed out the window, everyone she lays eyes on is different from one another, none of them have her colouring or markings. Adora comes and stands beside her without saying a word Catra grabs her hand and holds it tight. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The sound of air pistons releasing air and attaching to the ship can be heard outside as the ground marshal calls over others to help anchor the craft, slowly the ramp lowers letting in the bright light from the mid morning sun. Kywa is the first one to exit standing at the bottom of the ramp looking up towards the sun with her eyes closed. The others step out and curiously look around. “What about Melog?” Catra asks, “Don’t worry the guys here will take care of them and bring them to us when they’re fed and rested”, Kywa replies without looking away from the sky.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Well, well, well look who finally decided to come home" comes a booming voice. Kywa opens her eyes to see a tall buff guy with the fur and markings of a tiger.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Troy!" Kywa runs over and jumps into his arms. Troy picks her up with a grunt and spins her around and puts her back down "how ya doing kiddo?" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"better now I'm back home, oh….", Kywa turns to Adora and the others "Allow me to introduce to you the guys that saved my hairy behind out there, this is Adora, Bow, Glimmer and Catra”, He nods his greeting, his eyes fall on Catra and he raises an eyebrow at Kywa and looks back at Catra. Catra notices the look between Kywa and Troy and frowns, clenching her fists. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"COMMANDER ROGUE WAIT! " someone shouted </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They all look in the direction of the voice and see a slender female marching toward them with the fur and markings of a black jaguar, her black hair flowing in the wind, there is an intense fire burning within her green eyes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh no….." Kywa whispers under her breath.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Troy laughs "I'm getting out of the way of this storm", he walks off as he passes Rogue, he nods "Commander", she ignores him and heads straight towards Kywa who looks terrified and puts her hands out defensively. Rogue snarls and open hand slaps Kywa across the face, Kywa growls softly and rubs her cheek "ok I guess I deserve that" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rogue scoffs and pokes one of her fingers into Kywa chest "You leave on some ridiculously dangerous, idiotic, assignment. WITHOUT PERMISSION!, We don’t hear from you FOR MONTHS….", Rogue brings a softness back into her voice “I...I thought you were dead”,she turns her head away trying to hide the fact she's crying. Kywa looks tenderly at Rogue and takes a hold of her hand. "I missed you too". Rogue loses it and throws herself into Kywa's arms crying. Kywa, holding Rogue, looks over to Adora and whispers "you guys go ahead, I'm going to need a minute, Troy can take you guys somewhere to rest and clean up. He should be near the surplus station up ahead". </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora nodded, and she and the others walked away from Kywa and disappeared into the crowd. Bow and Glimmer have walked on ahead browsing through the local markets. Adora and Catra lag behind. Catra seems to be taking her time looking around, Adora notices that she’s more interested in the people rather than whatever the stall is selling. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora clears her throat, "This place is pretty impressive huh?", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra frowns at Adora "I know what you're doing", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora waves her hands trying to be coy, "pfft, no you don't" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra gives Adora a steely look, "you're wondering if i think this is where i was born" , "well, aren't you wondering the same thing?" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Catra stops walking suddenly with Adora almost running into the back of her. "No!... Yes… Maybe...I DON'T KNOW OK!" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Some people stop and glance over at the shouting. Catra gets embarrassed and storms off through the crowd.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Catra, Wait!" Adora hurries off after her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They both arrive at the surplus depot, Catra still looks annoyed. Bow and Glimmer are already in a deep conversation with Troy who is across from them leaning against a large wooden crate, they look over as Catra and Adora walk towards them "Ah! your friends are finally here". Bow and Glimmer exchange a look when they see how flustered Catra is. Bow asked cautiously "are you guys ok?" , "zip it!" Catra snaps. Adora shrugs her shoulders. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Troy groans and pushes himself off the crate "ok let's go", he starts to walk off towards a nearby surplus truck, "Where are we going exactly" , Bow inquires, Troy opens the rear door and motions for them to get in. "Kywa gave me strict instructions… " everyone gets in as he speaks. Troy closes the door then gets in the driver's seat. He straightens the rearview mirror and then starts the engine ,"...To take you to  the palace" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"PALACE?!", everyone shouted, except Catra. Troy gave a hearty laugh "I guess Kywa conveniently left out the 'she's a princess' part of her story". </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Princess?!" Adora said softly, then she looked over to Catra, her hands clenched into fists on her knees, her ears twitched as she sensed Adora staring so averted her gaze and looked out the window as the car started its journey toward the palace. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Catra stared out the window as the truck drove through the cobblestone streets, the more people and buildings they passed the more Catra began to realise this place was seriously militarised even more so then the horde were and far more organised, the brakes screeched in protest as the truck came to a stop. Catra tuned in while Troy greeted someone and they started talking about supplies so she zoned out again and focused on a small group of children with calico fur playing in a park. They were happily laughing and running after a ball being kicked around one of the children running fell over, they cried out and sat up holding their injured knee and started crying, the child's mother went over to them and knelt beside them. Catra's ears twitched as her mind started playing out a memory she had long forgotten.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She was sitting in a grassy area holding her knee and crying, she heard footsteps coming towards her and she looked up as arms similar to her own reached out and picked her up cradling her on their lap "Elizabeth, my poor darling what have you done to yourself" Catra looked up but the memory didn't reveal the figures face. The figure gently wiped Catra's knee clean and placed a small dressing over it "There. All better" Catra giggled and jumped off the figures lap. "Thank you mummy" and runs off. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra comes back to reality, Adora looking at her with an eyebrow raised, Catra sighs "what?" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"you said 'thank you mummy'" Adora whispers </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"no I didn't", Catra replied hissing through her teeth</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"ah yes, you did, you can't miss Shadow Weaver that much" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"it wasn't about Shadow Weaver!" Catra whispers loudly "it was…. It was nothing" her ears droop and she stared out the window again. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora slides over closer and puts an arm around her shoulder. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"we can still talk about nothing lately?" Adora asks tentatively. Catra snuggles into Adora's side and purrs softly "we can" Catra closes her eyes, replaying the memory again in her mind and drifts off to sleep. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora looked down at Catra as she rested and wondered what she was thinking about it. She hadn't seen her this peaceful since they picked up Kywa. Even though Catra wasn't open to the idea right now Adora knew in her heart this was Catra's home, she just wished there was a way she could make the transition easier, but forcing the issue wasn’t going to help. Adora tenderly brushed stray hair from her forehead and then rested her head on Catra's and drifted off, falling into a familiar dream. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Adora!", Shadow Weaver calls out, annoyance in her voice, "this isn't funny, your training is starting soon and we don't have the time for silly games", a tiny version of Adora peaked her head around a pillar and once Shadow Weaver had her back turned she giggled and took off running, Shadow Weaver spun around "Adora!, Adora! Come back here!", Adora passed some supply crates and then doubled back making the decision to hide behind them. She held her breath as Shadow Weaver got closer. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"This child will be the death of me", Shadow Weaver stopped close to the crate but didn't notice Adora hiding, she kept calling out and Adora listened closely as Shadow Weaver's voice faded away. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Now in silence Adora was ready to leave her hiding place when she heard a noise that sounded like crying behind the crate next to her. Cautiously Adora approaches the crate "hello?", the crying stops and she hears shuffling, Adora looks behind the crate and notices what she thought was a cat "it's ok kitty". </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tiny Catra raised her head and flattened out her ears and hissed awkwardly. Adora stopped, "you're a funny looking kitty", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm not a kitty!", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"then why do you have fur like a kitty", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"why are you all pink with fur only on your head", Catra countered smartly. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora laughed. "You're funny, I'm Adora, what's your name?", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Elizabeth", Catra says cautiously.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora tries to pronounce it,'' Eli-zabeth?, E-liza-beth?", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra giggles,"no E-liz-a-beth", Adora sits down next to Catra,"can I give you an easier name?",</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"like what?", Catra twitched her tiny ears and tilted her head, Adora cautiously put a hand out and patted Catra's ear,"how about Catty Catface?", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra screws up her nose, “that's silly Adora", then Adora's eyes widen "I've got it! Catra!", Catra pondered that for a moment "Catra? ", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora stands proudly, hands on her hips "Catra Applesauce MeowMeow!", Catra laughs loudly "why so many names?", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"you don't like them?" Adora face drops dishearteningly. Catra stops laughing and twitches her ears as she looks at Adora’s face, she stands up and holds her hand “I do like them”, Adora smiles.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora wakes up just as the truck enters the palace grounds, she takes a second to rub her eyes and survey the area, they were entering a massive round courtyard, lined by a perfectly manicured hedge. In the center of the courtyard was a tall stone statue, which she couldn’t see clearly from the backseat.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora softly shakes Catra awake, "hey we're here" she says calmly. Catra has a yawn and a stretches, the truck comes to a stop as Troy gets out Kywa's voice can be heard, "Finally!, did you take the scenic route?" </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everyone gets out yawning and stretching. Troy walks to the back of the truck and gets out a small satchel. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"ah you know me, I always gotta mul-tie-task" he throws the bag to Kywa,"besides I got you snacks" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa opens the bag and inhales "Ahhhh homemade rock cakes how I have missed you", she closes the bag, Kywa raises the bag “Thanks Troy”, Troy waves to her as he get back in the truck “Tell the big guy, I'm still the favourite”, Kywa smiles and shakes her head, directing her attention to Adora and the others.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Ok let’s get you guys inside, you could probably use the rest”, Kywa starts to walk away, the others follow her, Adora finally passes the statue and stops in the middle of the courtyard and looks up. A majestic stone lion sat staring out over the courtyard, Adora scanned the statue looking for anything to identify it when her eyes settled on the lion's face, it was wearing a familiar mask.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra comes and stands beside her ,”What’s the hold up?”, Adora says nothing and simply points to the lion’s face. Catra looks up at the statue and stands impatiently with her arms folded ,”Yes, Adora, it’s a very big lion”. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“No, doesn’t that mask look familiar?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looks up towards the lions face, and notices the mask, “Yeah it looks like that stupid thing that Shadow Weaver gave me….”, Catra’s voice started to trail off as another memory slowly comes back to her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tiny Catra climbs up the side of the lion, as a female voice calls after her ,”Please be careful, Elizabeth”, Catra looks down and finally sees the face that alluded her before, kind golden yellow eyes stared up at her, her beautiful face framed by two loose strands of silky golden brown hair falling down the sides and a long braid draped over one shoulder. “Yes mummy”, she shouts down sarcastically.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s mother walks around the base of the statue, her flowing dress showing her slender and toned body, she watched Catra closely, “I know your father wanted you to practice your climbing, but i do wish you had chosen something on the smaller side”, Catra grunts as she climbs higher “I want to be brave like Daddy!”,She saw the mask on the lions face and tried to jump from over from her current position, but missed and she started to fall. “Mummy!” she cried out. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s mother waved her hand and a large soft cushion materialised on the ground and caught Catra who was still crying. Catra’s mother bent down and picked her up, “There, there my dear you’re ok”, she took a thumb and wiped the tears from Catra’s eyes. Catra sniffled and hugged her mother around the neck.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Everything ok out here?”, came a deep gravelly voice, Catra wipes her eyes looking over, A tall muscular man with the fur of a Persian cat and piercing blue eyes. Dressed in cargo pants and a singlet, part of his long white hair tied up behind his head with the rest falling loosely down his back, he came over and tenderly kissed Catra’s mother on the lips, “Yes we’re fine, our little one here tried to be big and brave like you”, He laughed and took Catra from her mother and threw up in the air playfully, Catra squealed happily “Ah my big brave girl”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Dad….”, Catra whispers to herself as she came back to reality.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The castle foyer was quaint, there was a simple dark oak table in the center of the room with a small vase of white tulips on it. The uneven sandstone walls reached up into an apex where a candlestick chandelier hung down. Kywa took off her jacket and laid it on the table and waved everyone through. "This way". </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looked around cautiously. The others seemed excited to be here especially Adora, on the other hand Catra just felt overwhelmed by all these weird feelings of being a stranger in the castle but also a sense of Deja Vu.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora gave her a comforting smile which under any other circumstances would've calmed her nerves but right now her nerves were frayed and head was reeling from this place, part of her wanted to admit that Purrsia is beautiful but after getting weird glances back in the market and again since they got out of the truck she was going to explode if someone didn't tell her what was going on, worse of all they were doing the thing she hated the most, coddling her, after everything that has happened, everything that she has been through they still seem to think she needs protecting!, she was thankful that Melog wasn’t with her right now because her temper was slowly starting to get the better of her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They walked into a large dining area that has been set up for lunch. Catra didn’t take much notice of the food, hunger wasn’t in the forefront of her mind right now. It had the same uneven sandstone walls and ceiling with the exception of a large patio window overlooking what Catra assumed to be some kind of training yard, there were already soldiers out there running drills. Kywa motioned to the dining table, which was dark oak with a deep red table runner with matching chairs. “Please make yourselves at home”, Kywa takes her seat opposite the others.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“So when were you going to tell us that you’re a princess?”, Glimmer asks excitedly. Kywa laughs "well we didn't meet under the best circumstances it didn't seem like the right time to mention it". </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"MUMMY!" comes a chorus from the dining room entrance. Three children come thundering through the room running around the table to Kywa, Rogue coming close behind them still in her uniform, the eldest child has the same markings and fur as Rogue, the others are a set of twins who look exactly like Catra did as a child. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The twins climb up on Kywa’s lap, "ah my babies, I've missed you!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>One of the twins spoke "we missed you more mummy" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rogue took a seat next to Kywa, “I should apologise for this morning, that really wasn’t a great first impression to make, I’m Rogue”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about it, it sounded like you have every reason to be angry”, Adora said, reaching over to take a piece of fruit from the fruit bowl, Catra rolled her eyes. Adora being her usual people pleaser self. Adora turned to offer Catra a piece of fruit, she waved her hand dismissively.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa laughed, “Trust me, you don’t want to ever make a habit of making your wife angry, it never ends well for anyone”,</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rogue scoffs and folds her arms, “Excuse me, i am not that bad”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The eldest child seems to have taken in interest in Glimmer and walks around the table to stand next to her "Hi, my names Elliott, you have pretty hair",</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Glimmer laughs "thank you Elliott, I’m Glimmer", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Pretty hair and a pretty name”, Glimmer blushes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Elliott then looks Bow up and down, "I think your shirt is too small". </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Get your own girlfriend”, Bow pokes his tongue and covers his midriff, the others laugh except Catra. He notices Catra and tilts his head to the side </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Why do you look like granny Neara?", Catra freezes in place, a cold shiver running down her back at the mention of the name. All she could hear was Shadow Weaver’s voice deep inside her mind.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You have no mother, no one would want….you. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra quickly closes her eyes trying to drown out the intrusive voice.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa puts the twins down and stands up immediately going over to Elliot and directing him back toward Rogue "oooook Elliott it's time to leave the guests alone".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Great more coddling, Catra quipped to herself. She balled her hands into fists. Adora noticed and tried to put her hand on top of Catra’s, she pulled away. Adora took the hint and put her hands back on her lap.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa picks up the satchel from the floor and hands it to Elliott "besides Uncle Troy brought some rock cakes".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"YAY!" the kids scream in unison. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa hands the satchel to Elliot, he takes it and starts to leave the dining room with the twins following behind, they walk off fighting over who is going to get the most rock cakes.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s ear pricked up when she heard a familiar gravelly voice, “I hope you’re going to share those evenly with your sisters, Elliot”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Elliot sighs ,”Yes Poppy”. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looked over in the direction of the voice, with an unfamiliar feeling of longing in her chest. The man that walked in though was not the same man she recalled, had she recalled his face wrong somehow?, he had the same muscular build, but he looked tired and battle scarred with a black leather patch over one eye and his long white hair had been replaced with braids tied back into a ponytail.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He walked over to the head of the table and sat down taking off his leather cuffs, without saying a word he leans his elbows on the table and looks at Kywa, who looks down at the table immediately, he then looks at Catra his one blue eye concentrated on her face, Catra couldn’t break his gaze, he leans back in his chair, takes a moment to process his thoughts and laughs, “I guess today is my lucky day, seems i got both my girls back in one piece”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The words hit Catra’s ears as if she’d taken a blow to the stomach, she felt her lungs starting to constrict and she couldn't breathe, a lump was starting to form in her throat. Part of her didn’t want to believe what she was hearing, another part wanted her to run back to the ship and take off back into space and pretend this never happened. She couldn’t deny though that deep down a part of her was relieved as if puzzle pieces had rearranged themselves perfectly to fit together.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She couldn’t hold it in any more, she stood up from the table “Excuse me”, her voice cracking. She grabbed Adora’s hand and pulled her away from the table as well. She needed air, walking back to the foyer she found a side door that went out onto a small terrace, once out there she collapsed to her knees and started crying. Adora knelt down beside her and said nothing, she just held Catra as her emotions took over.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>There was now a tensely awkward air around the dining room table, Kywa groaned and put her head in her hands, Bow and Glimmer looked at each other gingerly deciding on whether they should stay or not. Rogue was the first to speak,”Tao, do you really think announcing it like that was the best thing to do?” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa sighs and sits back in her chair and rubs her forehead, “Subtle, Father, real subtle”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao grunted,”Well it had to be said sooner or later!”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He sat back in his chair and pointed at Kywa,”You want to sit there and tell me, that from seeing your face she didn’t already know?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa pushed her chair back and stood up frustrated, slamming her hands on the table, “She didn’t know anything about Purrsia!, She didn’t even remember my face Father!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao frowned, not breaking his gaze with Kywa, “Rogue my dear, would you be so kind as to show our guests to their rooms”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rogue gets up from the table and motions for Glimmer and Bow to follow her, “Let’s go get you guys settled in, shall we”. Kywa and Tao have a stare down until Rogue and the others are out of sight. Tao stands up from the table ,”We both know the real reason why you were even out at Prison Moon, your power is getting weaker!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa growled in defeat and sat on the edge of the table, “That shouldn’t be a problem anymore because Etheria is back from Despondos”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao raises an eyebrow, “What?!, How did that happen?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa stands up and begins pacing, “She-ra made a return to Etheria and brought them back here. At least now getting to half-moon shouldn't be an issue anymore, it’ll be easier for me to-”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao walks over to Kywa and grabs her by the shoulders, ”You have to take Elizabeth there immediately, she has to connect with the runestone!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa swats Tao’s hands away,”Don’t you think i understand the importance of restoring the runestone Father?!, the problem is that Elizabeth just got here and i haven’t even had a chance to tell her about the runestone! Let alone take her on a trip to half-moon!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao takes a step back and rubs his chin,“Then you need to do it, preferably sooner rather than later because the problem is the longer we wait, the worse things will get”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa throws her hands up in the air,”You just, in no uncertain terms, told Elizabeth we’re her family, who she doesn’t even remember!, </span>
  <em>
    <span>AND</span>
  </em>
  <span> now you want to add to that upheaval by revealing to her that she needs to reconnect to our runestone because we are the descendants of magical mumbo jumbo cats!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa points to Tao,”You have </span>
  <em>
    <span>LOST</span>
  </em>
  <span> your mind!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao matches her anger,”LOST MY MIND! I may be a simple military brat, so I don't always understand a lot of what your mother can do, but one thing we always agreed on is protecting our people comes first!”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa turns to her father ,“then you also know what she would say, if you push too much too fast we’re at risk of losing her all over again!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao growls and slams his fist on the table, he pauses a moment then pinches the bridge of his nose, “You’re right, you’re right”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa softens her tone, “Please just give me time to help her adjust”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao walks over and kisses Kywa on the forehead ,”Ok, I will try my best not to push anymore, but please-”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa rolls her eyes,”please consider what i’ve said, i know”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao laughs softly,”You should go and find her and her friend” Tao starts to walk away, then stops, “If she’s up to it i would love to introduce myself again, properly this time”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa smiles ,”I’ll see what i can do”. Kywa watches Tao walk away, then takes a deep breath and heads off to find Catra.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora and Catra were still outside on the terrace when Kywa found them. They were huddled up against the wall. Adora sat cross legged with Catra’s head resting in her lap, Adora was gently stroking her hair. Catra was purring softly sound asleep. Kywa approached quietly, ”How is she?”, </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Adora answered without looking at Kywa ,”Is that even a real question?”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa shakes her head, “Sorry, I’m not even sure what i should say”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You should’ve told her something before now”, Adora snapped.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa walks over and sits on the balcony ledge,”I could’ve yes, but it’s also not that simple Adora”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora scoffs,”The simple thing would’ve been to tell her she has family!, You travelled with us for weeks! Not once-”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora stop”, Catra says sleepily as she sits up, wiping her eyes. “Kywa has a point, you saw what i was like on the ship, i don’t think we would be here if she had told me any of this while we were still up there”, Adora looked at Catra thoughtfully.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa bends herself down a little to make eye contact with Catra,”I am sorry if you felt steamrolled”, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra sighs ,”I will admit it’s a lot, i have so many questions”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa smiles softly,”I will do my best to answer them”, as she stands up from the balcony, “perhaps that could be tomorrow’s problem, it’s been a long day”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra stands up and brushes herself off, Adora does the same and stretches,”Believe it or not, I’m actually looking forward to a soft bed”. Kywa holds the door open for them as they enter back into the foyer,”Well i just have to quickly go speak to my father and then i can show you around”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I do have one favour to ask though”, Kywa says as she closes the door, “If you feel up to it Catra, you could come with me”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra exchanges a look with Adora who smiles at her,”Well we did kinda take off, we didn’t even get his name”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra and Kywa reply together ,”Tao”, Adora looks at Catra who immediately covers her mouth. Kywa tries to hide a smile.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora giggles, “Well i guess i’ll go find where Glimmer and Bow got to”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa motioned to the staircase behind them, “Rogue took them upstairs, they should be easy to find”, Adora gently takes Catra’s hands and squeezes it, “Come find me after ok”, Catra nods.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa whispers,”She’s a good woman”, Catra smiles, “I know”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao sat at his desk, massaging his temples. He couldn't believe the turn the day had taken, going from no daughters yesterday to having both show up safe and sound. He knew that Kywa would be fine, she had her mother’s tenacity, but Elizabeth, he could barely believe his eyes when he walked into the dining room and saw her face looking at him after all those years. Both girls are spitting images of their mother. She would be so happy they were both home.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>His thoughts were broken by a knock at the door, “Come in”, his voice cracked a little, he cleared his throat and tried again,”Come in!”. Kywa opened the door and came in with Elizabeth behind her. Kywa walked to the back of the room and let Elizabeth come into the center. He tried to contain his emotions; he was worried that he had scared her earlier. He slowly stood up from his desk and walked around. Elizabeth’s ears were down, she was as nervous as he was about this.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Can i hug you?”, The words came out before he could stop them, he hadn’t felt emotion like this for a while. Her ears pricked up and she nodded, he walked over and hugged her tightly, as first he didn't get any response nor was he expecting one and then he felt Elizabeth’s arms tighten around his waist. His smile widened and he whispered, “My brave girl, it's so good to have you back home”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After what seemed like a blissful eternity he heard her quietly crying, he stopped hugging her and put his hands on her shoulders, “I’m sorry i didn’t mean to upset you”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She shook her head and wiped her eyes, “You didn’t, it's just...been a lot”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He smiles and ruffles her hair. He sat on the edge of his desk, “There is one thing i am curious about though, if you don’t mind me asking”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sure what is it?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I only remember you as Elizabeth, do you have another name I should be using?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Her ears pricked up, “My friends call me Catra”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao’s smiles, “Then Catra it is”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<h1>
<span>* </span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>A beautiful pyramidal tigers eye crystal with bright ambers and golden browns irradiate the center of the cold dark room, there are two orbital rings, pointed crystals sit on each ring, one burns with the same intensity as the center crystal stunning swirls of the same ambers and golden browns shining through, the outer ring crystals remains black and motionless.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A soft wind whistles through the stone walls carrying the quiet whisper of “</span>
  <em>
    <span>my brave girl</span>
  </em>
  <span>”, as the words pass through the center of the room the black motionless crystal starts to emit a soft golden light and begins a slow orbit about the other crystals.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Author's Notes</strong>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There will be some mature themes in this chapter so I tried to keep it as suitable for work as possible. A small part of this chapter is inspired by artist @Tinymirtillino on twitter, IYKYK :). </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>I considered writing a separate one shot instead because there is a little more backstory for Kywa and Catra I would've liked to explore, but I feel like too much exposition would’ve interrupted the flow of this story. I could always write a one shot for this chapter later :) - Jenna </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra stared at herself in the bathroom mirror, today she decided to wear an oversized jumper and black drawstrings shorts that came out of a pile of clothes that Rogue had given her and Adora. She stared intently at her hair, she was having one of those days with it, she almost forgot what it was like to manage longer hair and sleeping with it out didn’t help the situation she looked as though she had spent the night playing with a power outlet. She picked up the brush from the sink and tried unsuccessfully to get it through her hair and on the third attempt it became entangled. She groaned in frustration and walked out of the bathroom. Adora was standing at the window and turned her head when she heard Catra groan, "frustrated so early in the morning?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora was wearing a white blouse and black pants, she was definitely a welcome sight this morning Catra thought,"oh you know the usual joys of having wild hair", Catra plopped down on the bed with her legs crossed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora notices the brush stuck in her hair and laughs, "here, let me help" , she sits behind Catra on the bed and gently untangles the brush and does her hair, Adora finishes by taking the hair tie from around her wrist and putting it up in a loose ponytail. Catra leans back against Adora and purrs softly, “this is nice”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora laughs and wraps her arms around Catra, “What are you talking about, we cuddle all the time”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You know what i mean, no real responsibilities, just us doing absolutely nothing”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora sighs and whispers innocently,”You’re right, we could do whatever we want right now”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra blushed hard, she could feel goosebumps starting to form, she knew Adora didn’t mean what Catra thought she meant, She claps her hands together and quickly got up from the bed, “Time for breakfast!”, leaving Adora still sitting on the bed dumbfounded.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Glimmer is already sitting at the dining table eating breakfast, “Well hello there Princess Kitty, she says smugly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra rolled her eyes,”Haven’t you got a boyfriend to annoy or something?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“He went off exploring somewhere, </span>
  <em>
    <span>Your Highness</span>
  </em>
  <span>”, Glimmer gives Catra a toothy grin.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s eye twitches,”The joke is getting old”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“On the contrary, for the amount of time i’ve had to put up with you calling me Sparkles it’s only fair i pay you back”, Catra gives a low growl picks up an apple from the fruit bowl and throws it at Glimmer, she easily teleports it back over Catra’s head and lets it fall, it bounces off and rolls across the floor.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao walks in, picks up the apple and hands it to Catra, “Do your friends often tease you like this?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra, taking the apple, glares at Glimmer and angrily takes a bite,”Only the ones that taste like glitter”, then sits down at the table.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao pulls out his chair and sits down, then pours himself some juice, “I’m glad you’re up early actually Catra, i was wondering if you’re still on the fence about tonight’s dinner?</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra took another bite of her apple,”It’s not that i’m on the fence about it, it’s just i'm not used to...things like this”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao smiles,”understandable, well you don’t have to attend the whole dinner if you don’t feel comfortable, although it would be nice if you made some time to meet Percival”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I suppose”, Catra said distractedly. The whole idea of having a dinner in her honour didn’t sit well with her, people were making such a big deal out of it. Well it is a big deal, said the newly formed reassuring part of her mind. She sighed to herself, she wasn't used to feeling special. She only felt that way with Adora her thoughts drifted back to what she said this morning and she blushed. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra stood up from the table, “Do you know where Kywa is?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao thinks for a moment, “Considering the warm weather outside i’d say more than likely her and Rogue are out in the courtyard messing around with the trucks”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra starts to walk out of the dining room. Glimmer shouts after Catra ,”Have a good day Princess”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra shouts back,” Bite me, Sparkles”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As Catra walked out of the castle and into the courtyard she thought about how close her and Kywa had gotten over the past few weeks. As much as she enjoyed or rather tolerated Adora’s friends it was nice to have someone objective on her side, Kywa didn’t ask much about her past which was fine by Catra, the less people that knew what kind of person she used to be the better.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She had even taken the time to try and teach her a little bit of conjuring. Which didn't bode well for the forest outside the castle grounds; Catra could see the charred tops of several pine trees that fell victim to her learning curve, who knew magic could be destructive and fun she thought to herself. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra spotted Rogue first under the hood of a truck, grabbing a torque wrench out of her black cargo pants and tightening something, Catra’s feet crunching against the gravel as she walked over. “Hey short stuff”, Rogue said without looking up.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Hey is Kywa out here?”, Rogue stands up and walks over to another truck with Kywa lying underneath on a mechanic creeper. Rogue sneaks over to the side of the truck she winks at Catra and whispers,”watch this”, Rogue flips the torque wrench in her hand and bangs on the side of the truck hard, a loud scared hiss comes from under the truck, “HEY!”, Rogue and Catra laugh.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa wheels herself out from under the truck her face and clothes covered in oil and grease. She sits up on the creeper grabbing a nearby cloth and wiping her hands, “so any particular reason you guys tried to scare me half to death?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra suddenly got nervous, ”can we talk?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa and Rogue exchange a look, Rogue sighs,”Go, i’ll finish up here”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa stands up,"follow me, I know the perfect place" she starts to walk away and gives Catra a little shove "hope your climbing is good", She starts racing Catra, Catra conjures a small light and flashes Kywa in the face. "better than yours". Kywa laughs "you little cheat!" they race each other up the side of the castle. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As they climbed Catra took in how expansive the castle was, it was deceptively large because many of the rooms on the upper floors were built within the sandstone cliff face. She wasn’t really familiar with the upper floors of the castle yet she might have to dedicate a day for her and Adora to go exploring.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>By the time they got to the top they were both struggling to catch their breath, "seems your climbing is no better than mine", Catra said breathlessly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa laughed "I’ve got an excuse I'm older than you" she sat down on the cliff edge letting her legs dangle over "so what did you want to talk about?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra blushes and takes a deep breath, "I wanna talk about Adora",</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa raises an eyebrow, “Interesting topic of choice, You kids having trouble?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra sits down beside Kywa,”No, no, not at all….quite the opposite actually”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa turns around to face Catra, “Go on”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra sighs and hugs her knees,”Things have been really good between us and i just….”, She lets her voice trail off, embarrassed to finish the sentence.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa nods, ”ok and?”, she scanned Catra’s face looking for an answer, then her eyes widen “oh….OH!". Kywa pondered for a moment and laughed. Catra stands up to leave, "This was a bad idea".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa grabs her wrist to stop her, "hey I wasn't laughing at you, I was laughing because you trust me enough to ask, gives me the warm and fuzzies. Besides I haven't done much in the way of big sister stuff" she pats the stone next to her, "come on back and ask away", Catra sits back down, she hangs her head a little seemingly still embarrassed.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>By the time Catra and Kywa got back to the castle it was late afternoon, so Catra decided to make an effort to get ready for dinner, wearing a red button down shirt, the first few buttons open, and tactical pants she borrowed from Kywa, which were too big so she ended up having to tuck them neatly into her knee high black boots. As she walked down the stairs there were a handful of robed tabby cats loitering around that looked in her direction and started whispering, another one of the positive skills she had learnt while being here was ignoring the whispers and looks she got. Well it still annoyed her but nowhere near as bad as it used to.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She entered the dining room. Her thoughts drifted to Adora and she had wondered where she had gotten too, she wasn’t in their room when Catra got back. Looking around she saw Kywa and Rogue making small talk with another robed tabby cat, Catra kept scanning the room and then she saw her standing over with Glimmer and Bow. Catra wasn’t particularly interested in their choice of attire because all she could focus on was Adora, a vision of beauty in a white, flowing backless dress, her long hair falling evenly over her shoulders and meeting between her shoulder blades topped with a small gold headpiece.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora turned her head around and took one look at Catra as she approached and her cheeks flushed. Catra smiled and gently placed a hand on the small of Adora’s back, kissing her on the cheek and whispering,”Hey Adora”. Adora smiled but didn’t say anything, Catra knew her words had the desired effect though she could feel Adora shiver under her touch, she smiled to herself.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Slowly everyone started to migrate to the table and take their seats. Catra pulled out Adora’s chair, Adora smiled as she sat down, “well thank you madam”. Catra took her seat next to Adora. The dinner carried on with pockets of small talk around the table, Catra tried her best to stay in the conversation but this amount of socialising was starting to drain on her. She was ready to call it a night when a robed tabby cat, who looked older than the others Catra had seen tonight, with his prominent white facial hair. Came and sat beside her. He held out his hand to Catra, she reluctantly shook it,”You must be Catra, my name is Percival”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nice to meet you Percival”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It is wonderful that you have returned to us, especially now….”, Percivals voice trails off</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra narrows her eyes,”What do you mean especially now?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Percival smiles, “Oh what was i saying? At my age my mind tends to wander before the rest of me catches up”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra ears twitched and she suddenly felt uneasy, there was something amiss with what Percival was saying and she didn’t like it, she looked over the table and made eye contact with Kywa who seemed to sense something was off, she made her way around to Catra’s side of the table, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry Percival i need to steal my sister for a moment”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course, Miss Kywa”, Percival directed his attention to Catra,”It was lovely to finally meet you”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra gets up from the table,”You too” Catra said nonchalantly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa led Catra out of the dining room,”What happened?” Kywa inquired.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra folded her arms, “I don’t know there was just something off about that guy”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa laughed, “Well being a centuries old Magicat probably makes your social skills rusty”, then her tone became serious, “I know what you mean though, i noticed both him and father have been cagey all day, i’ve yet to figure out why though”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra?”, Adora called from behind them, “Everything ok?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra smiled “Everything is great now”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Catra seriously, you just took off”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa interjected,”That was my fault, Catra was looking for an excuse to leave, i think a better excuse just showed up”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra playfully punched Kywa in the arm.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Seriously though you guys can get out of here, there isn't anything else exciting going on just stuffy old people talking about stuff”, Kywa waves them away.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra puts out her hand to Adora, “You coming?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora takes Catra’s hand and they leave, Catra looks back and mouths the words “Thank you” to Kywa who gives her an enthusiastic thumbs up.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They get back to their room, Catra sits down on the edge of the bed and starts to take her boots off. Adora takes a hair tie from the night stand and sits on the other end of the bed and gets ready to do her hair up. Catra quietly crawls over the bed and gently puts Adora’s hands down away from her hair,”You look beautiful tonight”, she whispers to Adora. Catra watches her shiver again, she gently moves Adora’s hair to one side and kisses her neck, eliciting a soft moan from Adora.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Can i ask you something Adora?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Of course”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”Do you remember what we used to whisper about when we were younger?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora takes a moment to think, “You mean the thing about the spiders?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra kisses the other side of her neck,”Yeah, do you still feel like that?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora turns around to Catra and gently caresses her face and smiles sweetly, “When i’m with you every hour of every day”, She kisses Catra deeply as the full moon shines into their room.</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Tao stands out on the front terrace, staring at the full moon. Percival approaches him,”Sire”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes Percival”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s imperative we move quickly especially now that all the runestone are functional”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“I promised Kywa i would not push this”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Sire, at this point we have no choice if the trial is not taken soon, we’re at risk of losing the power of the runestone completely”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao sighs “I know, i will find a way to get my girls to half-moon”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>As the moon slowly sets and disappears from view, Catra and Adora lie in each other's arms, a few quiet moments pass. Then a small bead of blue light emanates from Adoras chest going up to her shoulder and then starts to travel down her arm and into her fingers, once it reaches Catra's fingers it changes to a deep copper colour and travels up Catra's arm and across her chest and comes to rest on her heart and burns brightly before the light slowly dissipates. Waking Catra up "huh?", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"you OK?", Adora asks her sleepily.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra purrs and snuggles into Adora and closes her eyes "never been better".</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Chapter 9</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“No! No! No!, Abso-lutely NOT!, i am not getting on that </span>
  <em>
    <span>thing</span>
  </em>
  <span>!”, Catra protested as she stood in front of a black mare outside the gates of Brightmoon, Kywa poked her head around from other side as she attached the reins, “Catra, it’s just a horse”, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What am i supposed to do when it grows wings and takes off!”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Grows wings and takes off?…..Catra, what are you talking about?, It’s. Just. A. Horse!”, Kywa takes Catra’s wrist and pulls her closer, “Look at this face, how could you be scared of a face like that?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa had pulled her uncomfortably close to the horses nostrils, the horse suddenly neighed into Catra’s face, she hissed and fell backwards,”Nooooope!”, Catra exclaimed as she got up, “I’d rather walk, thank you!”, As she starts to storm off, Adora grabs her around the waist, picks her up and hoists her onto her own grey horse, "I'm familiar with the flying type of horses m'lady, travel with me and I shall protect you", Adora said trying to give her best impression of a royal accent. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra folds her arms blushing, "yeah but your flying demon horse isn't here", </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora climbs on behind Catra,"One. It is not a demon horse. Two. We're trying to keep, you know, the secret location, secret. Can't do that with a talking horse" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa brings up the rear with Tao riding in front, “Alright follow me, try and stay close this side of the woods can be a little disorientating”. They rode silently for some time. Tao was still ahead of the others. Eventually Kywa rode up besides Adora and they travelled side by side. Catra had finally stopped pouting and almost seemed to be enjoying the ride through the whispering woods.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”What’s she like, our mother?”, Catra asked with hesitation in her voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa looks over to Catra, “You don’t remember?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra shakes her head, “not really I only get tiny bits and pieces now and then, in most of them though she was using magic”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa smiles,”magic is one word for it”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why do you say it like that? Doesn't she have the same magic as us?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa gives a surprised whistle,”Our magic pales in comparison to hers”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I thought illusionist magic was pretty strong?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It can be, the difference is our mother is an only child which means she bore the responsibility of both crystals when she was born, which made her pretty powerful growing up, rumour has it she even got into a massive fight with one of her teachers at Mystacor”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Who was her teacher?”, Adora asks as she moves a branch out of the way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa thinks for a moment,”Light...something”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora frowns,”Light Spinner?”, Her and Catra exchange a silent glance. Adora felt Catra tense up, Adora moved closer and put one arm around her waist reassuringly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”That’s it!, how’d you know?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh...we’ve been to Mystacor, We had heard stories about Light Spinner, she used to teach Glimmer’s dad too”, Adora answered quickly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa thought about that for a moment, "huh, I wonder if she knew him?". </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The conversation slowly died down and they travelled in silence for some time, Kywa notices that Catra has fallen asleep. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Have you two always been close Adora?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Ever since we were kids”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did she ever talk about how she ended up in the fright zone?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“After we met she didn’t talk much about where she was from, then again we were only kids so i doubt she remember a whole lot, Why do you ask?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No reason, just curious is all”, Kywa answered as she rode up towards Tao. Adora raised an eyebrow, the answer felt off to her, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind as they arrive at a clearing outside the whispering woods which was split by a stream into two contrasting sides, the purple and pink of the trees in the whispering woods and the muted yellow and green trees and shrubs on the other side. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao had already stopped at the stream, allowing his horse to have a drink. Adora got off her horse and helped Catra down, they both had a stretch. Adora walked over and put her hand in the stream and then wiped the back of her neck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa approached Tao, got off her horse and walked it over to the stream, bending down to give herself a handful of water, she stood up and had a stretch looking over to Tao,”Everything ok? You seem distracted?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao shook his head,”Kywa… Before we cross i need to tell you something-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before Tao could finish, a deep crimson rune circle appeared on the other side of the stream. The outline of a robed magicat appeared. The light slowly dissipated and they could see Percival standing on the other side of the stream. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What did you want to tell me?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao shakes his head,”It’s too late now”, he pulled on the reins and walked his horse across the stream to greet Tao. Kywa stood there confused.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What was that about?”, Adora asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa wipes her hands on her pants and gets back on her horse ,”I haven’t the faintest idea, guess we’ll find out”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Welcome to halfmoon, this way", Percival turns and heads into the woods, they didn't walk very far before they came into a clearing, “Whoa”, Adora says, looking around there are mounds of grey marble rubble everywhere, marble columns barely standing, something that resembles a marble staircase, “What was this place?”, Catra asks inquisitively</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“This used to be the castle of halfmoon”, Percival says, “Do be careful it’s quite easy to cut your feet open on these jagged stones”, Percival and the others traverse of the rubble easily, Catra had to stay back and help Adora who almost fell a couple of times. Eventually they got to a cave entrance hidden by weeds and vines. Percival pulled back the vines and motioned them to go inside, as they entered the walls were covered in ghost mushrooms that give the entrance an eerie green glow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Walking down to the end of the cave they come to a small nondescript circular door, Percival steps forward and places his hands on the door, a pale yellow light makes an outline around his hands and the sound of stones grinding against each other echoes through the cave, the door slides slowly to the right they waited for the door to fully open before going in, they then encounter a disorganised set of stairs. Percival touches the wall the same pale yellow light radiating from his hands and running along the wall and the stairs, the stairs start to rearrange themselves, rotating, revolving and slotting together perfectly to make a descending spiral staircase. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After descending the stairs, they come to a final set of large stone doors, Percival waves a hand in front of them and the doors grind in protest as they slide open. As they walk Kywa notices the majority of the magicats are living in small tents as if they’ve been displaced. The mood feels very somber. This doesn't feel right, she thinks to herself. They keep walking and some of the magicats they pass look at Kywa and bow their heads. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa looked around, “what happened here?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao took a deep breath,”This is part of what i wanted to tell you-”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Before he could finish his sentence, an older magicat woman came up to Kywa and held tightly to her hands,”Oh i am so sorry about Neara my child”, then gently kissed them letting them go and walking away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa stared wide eyed at her hands,”What is she talking about?!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao doesn’t say anything. Kywa growls in frustration and pushes her way through the crowd. In the center of the tents is a statue of Neara, there are magicats leaving offerings and lighting candles. Tao tries to touch Kywa on the shoulder, a deep growl radiates from her as she moves from his touch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”What is this?!”, Kywa said, her voice low and primal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao tries to get closer to her again, “I wanted desperately to tell you this before, but with you coming back as well as Catra, i just didn’t know how to start that conversation”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa puts her hands up, “Don’t touch me! , how could you keep this from us! , from </span>
  <em>
    <span>ME</span>
  </em>
  <span>!”, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao hung his head, "I know you're upset, but please try to understand" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa ignored Tao,”What Happened to her?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao takes a deep breath and sits down, wrapping his arms around his knees. He stares up the statue,”Neara, give me strength”. He closes his eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Neara!”, Tao frantically called out, both his bright blue eyes scanning the crowd that had accumulated in the centre of halfmoon. Most of the magicats were huddled together as the ground shook and dirt began to fall from the ceiling.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Neara! Are you here?!”, he continues walking through the crowd.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Over here!”, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao runs over and finds Neara kneeling down, wrapping the arm of an injured magicat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How many more?”, Tao asks,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Neara stands up, brushing herself off, “There shouldn't be anyone left over there, i need to go back though”, Neara turns to leave. Tao grabs her hand,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m coming with you”, Neara nods. They run back towards the portal as it starts to grow in size. Neara puts out both her hands using her magic to try and bend the portal back on itself, for a short time it works, then from inside the portal Neara hears a familiar voice cry out,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”ADORA!”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Neara eyes widen and she stops closing the portal, “Angella?!”, Tao comes over to her,”What happened, why did you stop?!”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I heard Angella, She’s in there”, Tao concentrates on Neara’s face, he starts shaking his head frantically,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, no i won’t let you do this Neara”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Tao, I have to, my friend is in there!”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Angella can look after herself!”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Neara shook her head, “She can’t sustain a portal by herself”, She starts to walk towards the portal. Tao grabs her hand tightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please don’t do this, let me go instead”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And what can you do? I won’t leave you there to die with Angella, at least with me there’s a small chance…”, her voice trails off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao comes closer to her and she cups his face in her hands, resting her forehead against his. “I love you”, they both start crying. She kisses him lingering there for a moment before pushing him away and heading into the portal, she turns to look at him as she is slowly engulfed by a white light. Tao shouts Neara’s name through his tears and tries to run in after her but as the portal begins to close fragments of it break off into his eye. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao rubs his leather eye patch, “That’s everything, the whole story”, his voice cracks as he begins to cry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra’s blood runs cold, she watches Adora holding her jacket in front of her face crying, Kywa has dropped to her knees in front of Neara’s statue. Why don’t I feel anything? Catra wondered, I caused this, i caused this, she kept repeating the phrase to herself, nothing she felt nothing. Catra’s thoughts are broken by Kywa shouting, “YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO KEEP THIS FROM ME, NO RIGHT!”Kywa tries to walk away, Tao grabs her wrist, “Kywa wait! Please!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa looks at Tao’s eye her body tense, she creates a pointy icicle and throws it at Tao stopping inches from his face, “Unless you want to lose the other eye, DON’T COME NEAR ME!”, Kywa throws his hand away and storms off. Tao backs off, shocked and hurt by her anger. He turns to Catra,”Do you hate me as well?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Not as much as i hate myself”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Catra don’t-”, Adora says as she stands up, wiping her eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Don’t you dare tell me not to blame myself!”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”I wasn’t going to say that!, I’m as much to blame as you are!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Oh so what were you going to say? What amazing words of wisdom were you going to impart that would make me feel better about killing my own mother!”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra caught on to what she said and her eyes widened, her ears drooped. Tao gasped and covered his mouth. Adora was about to say something</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You. Did. What?!”, Kywa said her voice deep and emotionless</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra turned to face Kywa, she had hatred in her eyes. This wasn’t the same look she got from She-ra after she closed the portal. This was darker, the hurt was written all over Kywa’s face. Kywa she steps closer to Catra,”Run that by me again, how is our mother’s death YOUR fault”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra steps back genuinely scared, “I was the one that opened the portal”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa growled and punched Catra, she wasn’t expecting it and lost her footing landing on the hard stone ground.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa stood over her, “Now i don’t feel bad about leaving you in that box!”, her words were dripping with venom. Catra’s head was reeling from the punch she tried to focus on Kywa, her image now shifted into the outline of Shadow Weaver, “See i always told you nobody wanted you”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra let her anger get the better of her and launched herself at Kywa. Adora gets ready to intervene until Tao puts out his arm to stop her,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You can’t let them fight like this!”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Adora i understand you care about Catra, but this is….this is something even you can’t fix, seems that both my girls have things to atone for”, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And if they can’t?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao shakes his head,”That’s not something we can afford to think about right now”.</span>
</p><h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>The voices and sounds of the fighting echo down through the halls leading to the runestone room, the two orbiting runestones begin to glow brightly and vibrate violently, as they circle the central runestone, a single crack begins to form at the peak.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Chapter 10</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Tao grabs Catra around the waist, struggling to pull her off Kywa who she has pinned to the ground,"This has gone on long enough!", </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra struggles against him shouting at Kywa, "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY YEARS I SUFFERED AT THE HANDS OF THAT WOMAN! NO IDEA!”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa slowly gets up onto one knee trying to steady herself, Catra pushes herself out of Tao’s grip,“Let me go!", She runs back at Kywa, extending her claws and swipes her, Kywa is caught off guard, she tries to get out of the way but is too slow and one of Catra’s claws catches her right ear and slices it, Kywa yowls and grabs her ear.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao growls loudly, “I said that is ENOUGH!”, he grabs Catra a little more forcefully this time, pushing her over towards Adora,”Hold her!”, he goes over to Kywa to help her up but she snarls at him and slaps his hand out of the way and gets to her feet by herself, she checks her sliced ear, she looks at her fingers there is a little bit of blood, “Well at least you’re consistent at hurting people” she shouts at Catra. Catra growls and gets ready to go back over, Adora holds on tight to her,”Catra, don’t please”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao bares his teeth and shouts at both Catra and Kywa,”BOTH OF YOU NEED TO COOL OFF NOW!”,Catra and Kywa stop arguing and go quiet, rattled by Tao’s anger, he takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, turning away from them, “I am </span>
  <em>
    <span>so disappointed</span>
  </em>
  <span> in the both of you”, he walks off. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His words cause Catra to feel a strange unfamiliar tugging in her chest, an emotion she can't quite place. Tao’s words have affected them both, their heads are down and their ears are drooped. After a silent moment Kywa walks off without saying a word.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra stays, she stares at the ground still trying to place the strange feeling in her chest, her ears prick back up when she senses Adora staring at her, she looks over and Adora has her arms folded, Catra sighs,”What?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did that make you feel better?”, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra rolls her eyes,”Don’t start Adora”, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”No Catra that is a serious question”, Adora comes and stands beside Catra,”did getting into a fight with Kywa make you feel better?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra looks at Adora for a moment and then frowns,”...Not really”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Didn’t change any of the hurt did it?”,</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catra shakes her head,”I thought it would”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You don't know why Kywa did what she did", Adora said sympathetically.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're making excuses for her?!", Catra said with annoyance in her voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm not making excuses, people making choices Catra, not all of them are good, you of all people should know that". Catra flinches at Adora’s word, but couldn’t deny she had a point.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Remember what I told you. When we were in the portal?",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>How could i forget</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Catra thought,"you made your choice, now deal with it", </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Exactly and I never understood why you opened the portal-",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I wanted to cause problems on purpose", Catra says in a slightly lighter tone.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“...Catra", Adora said seriously.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Sorry bad joke",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora sighed, "maybe once both of you have cooled down, you might be able to under-" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra interrupted, "No Adora, I'm not ready to understand just yet, you...you have to at least let me be angry".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora goes to say something but stops and just nods silently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa jumped down to a small riverbank away from everyone, her eyes still red and her chest heaving, she put her hand under the trickling waterfall bringing it up to her sliced ear, letting the coolness ease the pain, she winced a little at the initial sting and checked her fingers to see if she was still bleeding, she wasn’t.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Still might need a stitch, she thought to herself, she sighed heavily and put her head in her hands, she was upset at so many things finding out her mother was gone, when she didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye, finding out that her own sister was the cause of it, but the thing that got to her the most was, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Now i don’t feel bad about leaving you in that box!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Why did she say that to Catra?, She ran her fingers back through her hair, that wasn’t even what happened that day, I didn't just leave her there to be taken!.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Because you wanted to hurt her, said a matter-of-factly part of her brain. You wanted to hurt her because she is to blame for taking your mother away. She felt her tears resurfacing and stuck her head under the cold water of the waterfall, the rising sorrow in her chest slowly subsided as the ice cold water hit the back of her neck. She left her head there for sometime before flicking her hair back and feeling the cold water run down the back, the relief didn't last long as she felt another pang of guilt.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her thoughts drifted to how she had spoken to her father. Sure you had every right to be angry, anger though is one thing but to be that vicious, she shook her head, he was only doing what he thought was right and she had the nerve to treat him like that. She rubbed her temples and sighed loudly, if one of her own children spoke to her like that she’d be heartbroken so she could only imagine what her father was feeling right now. She stood up and tried to stretch out the stiffness in her muscles, ringing out her wet hair, she might as well head back, she would have to face both of them eventually. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao sits in a log chair in Percival’s tent, staring at the flame of a burning candle and distractedly playing with his silver wedding band. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Percival pours out two cups of tea and offers one to Tao, which he takes, Percival then takes a seat across from him. They sit quietly for a moment, ”I thought getting the girls here would be the hardest part”,Tao said while aimlessly stirring his tea. Percival takes a sip,”I know things haven’t gone well and the runestone has suffered because of it”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao shakes his head,”This is partially my fault, if i had swallowed my pride when Kywa got home i should have told her about Neara”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Hindsight is a marvelous thing Tao, you couldn’t have known then that this is how she would have reacted”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”I wasn’t expecting Catra to be the cause of this either, her time with the horde was far more detrimental than i was lead to believe”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“To be honest, i would be more concerned with how she ended up with the horde in the first place”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao’s eyes narrowed when he thought about what Kywa had said to Catra. “That is still something I will have to talk to Kywa about at some stage”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”There is still the pressing matter of the trial”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao gets annoyed at the sudden change of subjects,”Well answer me this Percival. How are we supposed to get them to complete the trial together? At this point I'm not even sure they want to talk to one another, there has to be another way to restore the runestones' power?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Percival shakes his head,”The runestone is what connects all of our power here in halfmoon and the queen has always been the key to that”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao finishes his tea and places the cup on the table and closes his eyes. Neither of them hear Kywa come in, "Father?" she asks cautiously. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Percival gets up, "I shall leave you two alone".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao says with false bravado,"don't bother, there's nothing left to say, I would rather you go find Catra and bring her here",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Percival raises an eyebrow, "of course" he leaves the tent without another word. The tension in the air starts to build before Kywa finally speaks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Father, I'm sorry i-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Tao interrupted,"What have I told you girls about apologies? Never apologise to anyone….they are empty words unless you're willing to put in the work to make things right"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa says nothing and just stands there uncomfortably, Tao continues, “and later you WILL explain to me how Catra ended up with the horde”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Percival reenters the tent with Catra and Adora. Tao notices they quickly exchange a glance at each other but nothing more is said. A small bubble of hope rose in his heart he was certain he saw remorse in both their eyes but he wasn’t entirely sure. He steadied his nerves, he was never the best disciplinarian he always left that to Neara but right now they needed direction. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Sit, both of you”,he said as forcefully as he could muster, both the girls sat down across from their father, they said nothing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Thanks to your rift earlier the runestone has been affected”, both Catra and Kywa get ready to open their mouths to say something. Tao cuts them off immediately.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“NOT A WORD! From either of you!, you’ve both said and done more than enough, now you will listen!”. They both look down at the floor. Tao eyes them both before continuing.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”This is no longer about you two!, this affects </span>
  <em>
    <span>everyone</span>
  </em>
  <span> in halfmoon!, with the queen…..gone, the power of the runestone needs to be restored”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”What do we need to do?”,Catra asked coolly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Complete the trial of D'riluth”,Kywa answered without looking at Catra.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Who is D'riluth?”,</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I can answer that for you”, Percival said,”D’riluth was the first Magicat born from the cosmos and upon her was bestowed the power of continuum, which automatically put her at odds with the ancient First Ones, they did not like the fact that a single being could control illusionist magic as strong as that, So as to protect her power from them she split it across two runestones, which is why it was important there was always at least two children descendants of D’riluth in order to hide the magic from the First Ones, this was like this for many millennia until your mother Neara, but now with her gone the runestones are slowly losing power”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”And so are all the magicats?” Kywa asks</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Percival nods,”Yes if we don’t complete the trial soon we will all be powerless”.</span>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>
  <span>Kywa sighs,”You already know my answer is yes, I will complete the trial”. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra frowns and looks to Adora for guidance, Adora nods,”I’d like to go with Catra, if that’s possible”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Percival shakes his head,”Unfortunately you are a First Ones descendant and the inner runestone chamber will not let you in”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”So you’re saying it will be just Kywa and I?”, Catra asks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Yes, i know things have been difficult but you’ll have to try and work-”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra interrupts,”Ok i’ll do it, when do we start?”, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Percival gets excited,”As soon as possible”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra gets up to leave, Kywa stands and clears her throat, “Thank you Catra”, Catra takes a moment to inhale, letting the anger simmer down before speaking,”I’m not doing this for you”. Catra leaves without saying another word, Adora follows Catra outside,”That was impressive, i wasn’t expecting you to say yes”, Catra frowns,”Yeah well i did”. She didn’t need to tell Adora that getting Kywa alone was exactly what she wanted.</span>
</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Chapter 11</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The area outside the runestone chamber was abuzz with magicat activity, as word had gotten out that Neara’s daughters were going to complete the trial of D’riluth. Adora was sitting on a high rock ledge as the small crowd gathered below, she could only watch as Catra and Kywa prepared for the trial, she focused on Catra’s face trying to read her expression but it wasn’t giving anything away, she was worried about her, the more she thought about it the more she was certain there was something a little off about the way Catra agreed to doing the trial so quickly. Adora sighed loudly, trying to shake the niggling feeling in her gut.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao came over and patted Adora on the shoulder and then sat down beside her,”You’re worried too?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora nodded,”How come you’re not down there with them?”, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Purrsians aren’t magicats, so right now i’m in the same boat as you all i can do is watch”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you think they’ll be ok in there?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao sighs,”I don’t know Adora, I would love nothing more than to assure you everything will be fine, but after today's events...i just don’t know. From what Percival has told me there was only ever one other time the trial was taken with conflicting siblings'',</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora looked at Tao,”What happened to them”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao pauses for a moment before answering,”Neither of them came back”, Adora looked down at Catra. Now she was more worried than ever and that niggling pain started to make her feel sick.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra and Kywa sit across from each other both of them dressed in a black tank top and shorts, a male magicat sits in between them in front of a fire pit, throwing in small pieces of bark and thin leaved branches that slowly fill the air around Catra and Kywa with a sharp and sweet smelling thick white smoke. Both of them had a female magicat sitting in front of them, each mixing up red ochre with a stone knife. Once the mixture was thick enough they started painting over the stripes on the girls fur as well as painting stripes on their legs and lastly the outline of the mask of D’riluth on their faces.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As the magicat was painting Catra’s face she opened one of eye and looked over to Kywa,” so have you done this before?",</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa answered Catra without opening her eyes,"a trial no, it hasn’t been done for many years, way before our…..”, her voice trails off, she pauses for a moment and frowns,”...our mothers time”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The female magicats finished their work and stood up. Percival appears from behind them,”It is time”, both Catra and Kywa stand up. Kywa leaves behind Percival, Catra follows and notices that the stone knife has been left behind, she picks it up and hides in the back of her shorts.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Percival stands in front of the old stone entrance, the girls stand in front of him. He takes a moment to look at them both,”You’re commencing this trial under less than ideal circumstances, the one thing you have to remember the inner chamber will sense your hostility to one another and try and use it against you”, the girls nod silently and step forward to stand next to Percival as he waves his hand to open the door. Catra and Kywa walk past Percival and through the doors into a dark corridor, “D’riluth guide you”, Percival says as the doors close and the girls are plunged into darkness.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They both create a small ball of light, moisture runs down the stone walls in pools across the dirt path, they exchange a wordless glance then start walking down the path behind them in the darkness appear several sets of evil red eyes. The shadows crawl across the walls and over the ceiling closing in on Catra and Kywa, Catra ears prick up at a familiar uneasiness and one of the shadows gently wraps its spindly fingers around her upper arm,”Thissssss one is filled with hatred”, another shadow curled around Catra and came to rest on her other shoulder,”Yesssss, what a delightful sssssmell”. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Another one dropped from the ceiling onto the ground behind her, running its fingers down her back, Catra freezes in place for a moment, the shadow crawled up her back,”Ah sssssshe wants to kill the other one”, The other shadows give a low hiss. Catra closes her eyes,”Go Away” she says under her breath through gritted teeth.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa turns around the shadows quickly hide behind Catra, “Are you ok?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra quickly walks past Kywa, the shadows now divert their attention to Kywa as she walks behind Catra, one attaches its fingers around her shoulders,”The little one hassss caussssed you pain, sssssshe mussst ssssuffer”,sticking out its fork tongue and licking her ear, Kywa narrows her eyes at Catra.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They come to the centre of the inner chamber, the runestones are ahead of them the colours are slowly fading, with the outer runestones slowing down their orbit. Behind the runestones is an iridescent waterfall. Kywa pushes past Catra,”There let’s get this over with”, she approaches the runestone ready to touch it when she spots Catra’s reflection in the water pulling out the knife from her shorts, as soon as Catra lunges at her, the runestones platform suddenly ascends into the air, unleashing a torrent of water and washing both Catra and Kywa off the platform.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The shadows crawl into the inner chamber hissing with delight, as Catra and Kywa splash into the pool below. They both try to stand up as the torrential water still falls on them, Catra gets to her feet first with her wet hair sticking to her face. She eyeballs Kywa as she stands up, she looks at Catra and clenches her fists, “Come on then you wanna finish this now!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra snarls and lunges at Kywa, Kywa is ready for her she grabs her and throws her against the wall and Catra falls into the water, she quickly gets back up to her feet and runs at Kywa tackling her Kywa lands hard on her back, Catra sits on top of her and puts her hands around Kywa neck forcing her head under the water, Kywa flails trying to get Catra to loosen her grip the shadows hissing became louder as they started to surround the girls. Kywa flailing started to slow down eventually one of her arms dropped into the water momentarily when Kywa brings it back out the red ochre markings are glowing and she extends her index finger, her claw touching Catra’s forehead. </span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>What happened? Where am i?</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looked around. The surroundings were made out of grey marble</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Halfmoon?! What is going on?!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra turned around at the sound of children laughing. She saw a younger version of Kywa running through the castle gates, then a younger version of Herself running after her,”Kywa wait for me!”, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa jumps up on a branch,”You’re too slow!”, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra jumps up and struggles to get up on the same branch,”No I'm not!”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa scans the area, then points,”Over there, come on”, she jumps down and takes off through the bushes, Catra jumps down and goes after her, they run through the forest until they get to the stream separating halfmoon from the whispering woods. Kywa has already picked out two boxes,”Ready?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra smiles and nods,”Ready!”, she runs and jumps into the box, Kywa giggles and carefully drags her box into the stream, the slow current gently moving the box downstream. Kywa brings her box into the stream and jumps in travelling just behind Catra. The stream starts to get a little faster, both of them are still giggling, Kywa turns her back distracted by a fish in the water and doesn’t see the stream splitting into two, Catra’s box heads off in the other direction.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa turns back around and realises that Catra isn’t in front of her anymore,”Elizabeth?!, ELIZABETH?!”</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Catra loosens her grip on Kywa’s neck and falls back into the water. Kywa sits straight up out of the water, coughing and struggling for air. Catra looks down at her hands, surrounded by iridescent water,”What is this?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa's voice is hoarse, ”It’s called the lake of echoes”, Catra frowns as she realises what she just saw, “Your memories?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa rubs her neck and nods. Catra sounds annoyed,”Why would you lie about leaving me in a box?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”Why did you open a portal that killed our mother?”,Kywa countered with equal annoyance.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra opens her mouth to answer the question, but says nothing. Kywa tilts her head trying to study Catra’s face,”You don’t know do you?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looks down at her distorted reflection in the water,”If you had asked that before I would’ve told you because I wanted to crush She-ra and the rebellion and it didn’t matter what the cost was”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Hang on, Adora is She-ra, how was that going to work?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra sighed,"it made perfect sense at the time, the rebellion had taken my best friend and turned her into something else, there was a lot happening then….it’s hard to explain”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa cautiously comes a little closer to Catra sitting cross legged in front of her, the surface of the water shifted colours as Kywa gently ran her fingers across it, ”Then help me understand”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra eyes widened, </span>
  <em>
    <span>help me understand</span>
  </em>
  <span>, the words sounded foreign to her, the only one that ever really understood her was Adora, that was only because they’d grown up together, </span>
  <em>
    <span>help me understand</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Catra repeated the words to herself, why did those words feel comforting.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why aren’t you angry?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh no, I am still furious with you, your decision took her away from us, so I need to understand why”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa notices the change in Catra’s demeanour and gives her a soft smile,”however if you try to drown me again I will come back and haunt you”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra gave a small laugh and sat closer to Kywa, mirroring her cross legged pose,”I can’t make any promises”. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looks around,”So how does this work?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”Run your hand through the water and think of a memory”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”Any memory?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa nods, Catra closes her eyes and takes a deep breath running her hand through the water, the red ochre markings glowing, she brings up her index claw, her hand shaking with nerves and she touches Kywa’s forehead. The red ochre markings lose their glow, ”What happened?, It didn’t work”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Just take your time and try again”, Kywa said reassuringly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra repeats the process, the red ochre markings glow a little brighter this time and she touches Kywa’s forehead. Kywa frowned and inhaled sharply. As a memory from Catra’s past started to come into focus.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Chapter 12</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Kywa sees teenage Catra and Adora sparring in a training area, Catra runs at Adora bo staff in hand and swings, Adora easily counters, they swing and block for several rounds before Adora ducks under one of Catra's attacks. When she stands back up Catra touches her index claw against Adora's forehead and laughs. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora takes advantage of Catra's lapse in concentration and swings her staff, Catra dodges and they start sparring again until Adora grabs Catra's staff and throws her to the ground. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Now I've got her </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Owwwwww", Catra cries. Adora rushes over "are you OK?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Poor predictably sweet Adora. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra smiles and swings her staff sweeping Adora off her feet. Catra quickly gets to her feet and attacks without giving Adora a chance to recover, she blocks Catra’s attack</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>There’s no way you can win now</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra smirks thinking she has gotten the upper hand, Adora looks over Catra's shoulder and smirks back. Catra senses somebody behind her, she quickly turns to block an attack from Lonnie, she caught Catra off guard and almost disarmed her</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>No no no! This wasn't supposed to happen! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra regains her composure and waits for an opening, which arrives when Lonnie flips over Catra's head. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Wait for it…..Now! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She aims for Lonnie's chest plate and hits it with her staff eliminating her from the sparring session. Catra breathes heavily, she was barely recovered when Adora comes in swinging her staff, Catra has nothing left after her fight with Lonnie and can't block her attacks, eventually Adora strikes her chest plate and eliminates her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>WHAT! NO! THIS ISN’T FAIR!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"And there's our winner", Cobalt says as he approaches Adora, she puts out her hand to Catra, who begrudgingly takes it and gets to her feet. Catra marches straight over to Lonnie</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"What was that?! Way to gang up on me!", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"You were fighting dirty, I was just levelling the field", Lonnie said, folding her arms. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora comes over and puts her hand on Catra's shoulder ,"hey you were awesome!, did I hurt you?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra gives a false smile as she brushes away Adora's hand, "no, I'm fine, you're just lucky I let you win",</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora says with an eyebrow raises, "Riiiight" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I'm serious, if I came in first people might expect me to actually start doing stuff around here, trust me second place suits me just fine" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"yeah, ok, come on let's go cool down" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"in a minute, I'll meet you there", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora runs over to the others," hey guys wait up"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Second place is not fine. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra turns away rubbing her shoulder. She walks into the locker room and clenches her fists before taking off her chest plate and throwing it to the ground. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Why can't I ever beat her? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Why does she have to be the best at everything? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Why can't I be special for once? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She walked over to the sink holding onto it tightly until her fingers hurt, trying desperately to hold back her angry tears. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Catra, Catra, Catra, I honestly don't know why you bother", came Shadow Weaver's voice from the other side of the locker room. Catra turned around, the tears were starting to pool along her bottom lid now, making it hard to see. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"If it wasn't for Lonnie I would've beat your star student" Catra said sarcastically.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Shadow Weaver laughed,"You need to spend less time daydreaming Catra, You are nothing compared to Adora and you will never beat her at anything, you are not good enough, the sooner you realise that the better”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra snarls, "I am not daydreaming!, Adora even said I was awesome today" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Shadow Weaver circled around Catra, "and you believed her? She feels sorry for you Catra you've always been inferior to her and you always will be" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra in a small moment of clarity narrows her eyes at Shadow Weaver, "you can't talk to me like that, you're not my mother!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Shadow Weaver makes herself bigger and holds up Catra's head by her chin,"you're absolutely right child, you have no mother, no one would want….you". She turns around and leaves. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra grits her teeth and lets her anger boil over, she flips over a bench and picks up her chest plate and throws it in the direction that Shadow Weaver just left. The door opens and Adora comes in looking around at the mess, "hey? What happened?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra roughly wipes her eyes and pushes past Adora to leave, "Nothing!, leave me alone!”.</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Kywa opens her eyes, her heart sank, how could anyone teach a child like that!. Growing up in the Horde seemed to be very similar to growing up on Purrsia, both were military upbringings, but her father never spoke to her like that. His words were always encouraging, not just to her but to everyone. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa shook her head, there was a deliberate cruelty to the way that woman spoke to Catra, like she was making her suffer for something. Replaying it in her mind was making her angry. She looks over to Catra who is distractedly playing with her fur on the back of her hand. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Who was that?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Shadow Weaver, she raised Adora and I, well raised Adora she just dragged me along with her", Catra was trying to hold back tears. Kywa frowned at that response, so Shadow Weaver must have always treated Catra like that. Kywa thought for a moment and touched Catra's hand. "show me the portal" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra stared at Kywa's hand, "no. I can't" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I know you don’t want to, but you have to Catra, you owe me that much" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra closed her eyes and took a deep breath, put her claw back on Kywa's forehead and began to relive the moment in her mind.</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra storms into the room where Scorpia and Entrapta are, "Catra" Scorpia says excitedly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Not in the mood for your neediness right now Scorpia.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She shoves her out of the way, then approaches Entrapta grabbing her by the shoulders,"why aren't you in Hordak’s lab?!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Uh", Entrapta says not looking at Catra</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She's stalling! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra becomes impatient, "there's no time, we need to fire up the portal machine" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Entrapta escapes Catra grasp, "we can't! opening a portal right now would disastrous, it's going to collapse and take us all with it, Adora was right" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Adora was right! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The words reverberated through her brain.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Adora was right! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She's not even with the horde anymore and yet she STILL has to be better than me! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Shadow Weavers voice comes back, </span>
  <em>
    <span>"I don't know why you bother" </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>"you'll never beat Adora, you're not good enough" </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Something inside Catra's mind finally snaps, "Adora is right?!”, she giggles unnervingly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I will not be second place ANYMORE! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Adora, gets everything she wants" she breathes heavily and roughly runs her fingers through her hair, "but not this time, this time I AM going to win, I don't care what it takes, we are opening the portal NOW!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Entrapta protests, "NO! I won't, I need to tell Hordak he'll understand" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I don't care what it takes! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra uses her Horde taser to knock Entrapta out. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>What have I done?......No I can’t falter now, she was an obstacle, she was in the way of me winning!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Get her out of here!”, Catra says to the Crimson Waste Goon</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you want me to do with her?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra is a little more frantic now,“I don’t care! Just get rid of her!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>She can’t be anywhere near Hordak, She’ll ruin everything!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Put her on the transport to Beast Island”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Beast Island! You can’t!”, Scorpia said with concern in her voice</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I don’t care what it takes!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra turns the taser towards Scorpia,”You want to be next?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span>Catra leaves to go to Hordak’s lab. She enters walking past Adora who was tied up against a pillar,</span> <span>"The princesses are here! There's no time to waste we need to open the portal", </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"where's Entrapta, I need her",Hordak said without looking around</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>You need HER! What about me?! . No, I will not be pushed aside for anyone else. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra smirked, "who do you think let the princesses in" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Do you need her now Hordak? Your precious princess! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Hordak slams his fist into the control panel,”But she, she wouldn’t”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>That's right Hordak, princesses are the cause of all of this. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra laughed,”did you really think she was on our side,oh, you can’t trust anyone, especially…”, she looks over her shoulder at Adora, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>she looks scared. Good!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“....a princess, they’ll just use you to get what they want, open the portal and let’s end this!”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The memory shifts to Catra holding onto the lever, “Catra, please don’t!”, Adora pleads. Catra concentrates on her face and then smiles</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Today Adora...Today I Win</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She pulls the lever.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Kywa lies down in the water, hoping the change in position would stop her head from spinning ,feeling everything that Catra felt that day was too much, she starts to realise part of her frustration and anger with Catra has been misplaced, she wasn’t completely guilt free but it became clear who was the true culprit behind Catra’s behaviour. She sat up again and looked at Catra who was now crying softly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Can i ask what happened to Shadow Weaver?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"she died, when we were fighting horde prime" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa sighed,"good because I might've had to have killed her myself" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa reached out and held her hands, she expected Catra to pull away, she was pleasantly surprised when she didn’t,”Catra look at me”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looked at Kywa, Kywa smiled softly and wiped a tear from her cheek,”You’ve never been inferior to anyone, the person you were with the Horde isn't the person that is sitting here with me now”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra covered her face and cried a little harder resting her head in Kywa’s lap,"I almost just killed you" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"well to be fair I haven't had a cat fight like that since I started dating Rogue, so I was a little rusty", Kywa conceded.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra laughed sitting up and wiping her eyes, "I'll tell her you said that" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Uh no, please don’t do that".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa looks up at the runestone platform, Catra follows her gaze. They both sit there for a moment hypnotised by the orbiting crystals and enjoying the silence as the hissing shadows slowly disappear back into the walls. Catra gets up first still looking up,"now what?", Kywa stands beside her resting her arm around Catra's shoulder, "now we climb and hope the runestone still doesn't hate us". </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>After some time climbing up the outer walls Kywa and Catra finally get to the central platform, they both jump from the wall and land on the outer ring. The intricate Tiger’s Eye runes that are etched into the grey marble slowly glow as each ring lowers clicking in place, the final ring brings the runestone. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra's eyes widened, the runestones were beautiful, the insides looked alive with the way the colours moved around each other within them, dark browns and blacks surrounded by soft yellows and oranges, almost like they contained their own universe, the closest she had ever been to an actual runestone was the black garnet, but that it couldn't even compare to this. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She was automatically drawn to the outer runestone, even though she'd never seen it before it felt familiar to her as she approached, the runestone slowed its orbit until it was in front of Catra then it stopped. She was about to touch it but hesitated. Kywa stood across from her the other runestone, she looked at Catra and smiled,”It’s ok, go on”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she pressed her palm against the runestones surface, she opened her eyes as she started to feel the warmth from the runestone travel up her arm, a soft dark amber light started to surround her. She started to feel different, as if the runestone had unlocked a part of her, the dark amber light got wider and brighter eventually joining up with Kywa’s own light and filling the inner chamber.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Welcome home my darling</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>A soft voice came from behind her, Catra looked around but no one was there.</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Outside the inner chamber Magicats were waiting. The air was thick with nervousness. Adora could feel it, her anxiety was just as bad, it had been several hours since Catra and Kywa had gone in. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Please be ok</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao had resorted to pacing for the past couple of hours, and hearing the same crunching dirt noise under his feet was getting on Adora's nerves. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao suddenly stopped pacing as a slow deep rumble began underneath them, Adora stood up and they both looked to the entrance to the inner chamber as soft dark amber light seeped out from under the door and ran across the crevices in the floor. Several of the Magicats began to cheer. Tao scanned the crowd looking for Percival when their eyes met he simply smiled and nodded. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Tao's mouth dropped open, "they did it". The words came out softly as he could barely believe them. He turned to Adora,"they did it!" he grabbed Adora and pulled her into a bear hug, "THEY DID IT, MY GIRLS DID IT!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora giggled and then tapped Tao's chest, "ok big guy, now I can't breathe". Tao released his grip, "Sorry!" the soft glow irradiated their faces Adora could see Tao was crying, "what's wrong?" Tao smiled, "I just wish their mother was here to see this".</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Chapter 13</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The doors to the inner chamber slowly open, everyone including Adora and Tao are waiting outside with bated breath for Catra and Kywa to appear, after several minutes there is still no sign of them. Percival decides to go in and look, Adora and Tao exchange worried glances, a short time later Percival returns and shakes his head,”They’re gone”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What do you mean they’re gone?!”, Tao says as he pushes past Percival and tries to enter the chamber but is stopped by a sudden barrier, he balls up his fist and tries punching through the barrier to no avail. Adora steps forward and tries to approach but the barrier shoots out golden lightning hitting the ground near her feet forcing her to stay back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora stares at the barrier trying to figure out how to get in,”Could they have found another way out?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It is impossible for them to have left any other way except through these doors”, Percival says as he calls over a handful of Magicats, they hold their hands out trying to remove the barrier.</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s and Kywa's ear prick up as they hear the cheering from outside. Both of them are still surrounded by dark amber light, Kywa stretches and sighs with relief. "I could definitely use a nap after we get out of here" .</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra walks over to the central runestone, "yeah, this whole thing was intense", she notices the crack and touches it, gently running her fingers along the rough edges,"did we do this?".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa stands beside her, bending in to take a closer look, "maybe this is what our father was talking about" Kywa runs her fingers along the crack as well. Just as she lifts her fingers off the runestone a soft bluish purple fog starts flowing out of the crack. Both girls move their hand away from the runestone and step back. The fog slowly spins around the central runestone and onto the floor, slowly flowing over towards the girls, they squint as an intense white light rises from the fog filling the entire room.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra and Kywa groan as they lie on an invisible floor, they both slowly sit up rubbing their eyes trying to get rid of the remnants of bright light dancing across their vision, looking around they see they are surrounded by stardust, the colourful gases shifting against the stars in the distance. Kywa gets annoyed rubbing her hands against her face, groaning,”why isn't this trial over! It’s wearing on my patiences!”. Catra has her back to Kywa and doesn’t answer, she is mesmerised watching the stardust shift and change was soothing to her. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well Kywa, it is nice to hear you haven’t lost your father’s temper”, came a stern female voice.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa pulls on Catra’s ear to get her attention. Who reacts by turning around and backhanding Kywa in the chest. She follows Kywa’s gaze and looks up, the female in front of them is dressed in a long flowing white layered dress and a leather laced up bodice, her long brown hair falling perfectly against her back and her hands on her hips. Catra looked at her eyes and saw her own staring back at her except both of her eyes were golden yellow. Kywa stood up and excitedly ran over and hugged her mother, Neara laughed and hugged her back, "my goodness, I'm so happy you got home safely".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa held onto Neara’s shoulders and looked her up and down, as if she didn’t believe she was actually standing there,”How are you real?, how are you here?, Father told us what happened so we thought you were dead”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara laughed,”I did walk into a broken portal in order to fix it, so it wasn’t exactly the easiest or smartest thing to do, but so far it’s worked out well”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa looks around to Catra who is still sitting on the floor staring at Neara. Kywa takes Neara’s hand and brings her over to Catra,"Mother, this is Catra". Neara smiles softly at Catra then kneels in front of her and carcases her cheek, "Catra, hmm, such a fitting name".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra, without thinking rested her head against Neara’s hand, Neara moved a little closer and hugged her, resting her chin on Catra's hair,”Oh my darling girl, I have missed you so much” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra frowns and breaks out of Neara’s hug, "Did you though? Did you ever look for me?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Catra!", Kywa starts to protest. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara doesn’t break her gaze with Catra and puts her hand up to silence Kywa,"when Kywa came back that day all those years ago to tell me she'd lost you, I refused to go back to Purrsia with your father. I stayed in Half-Moon, Every. Single. Day. For years Eliz…...Catra, I searched and searched for you”. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara took a deep breath and ran her fingers through her hair, she was close to tears,"I refused to believe you were truly gone, even when your runestone stopped glowing. So whoever hid you, knew what they were doing when they took you away from me. They must have also known my power would weaken if I lost connection with one of my children”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Shadow Weaver", Catra and Kywa said in unison. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara raises an eyebrow, "Who is Shadow Weaver?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”That was the name Light Spinner gave herself when she joined the horde”, Kywa says.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara frowns and folds her arms, ”Now that is a name I haven't heard for many years.” </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”What happened between you two?”, Kywa asks as she sits down in front of Neara.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara sits up straight and crosses her legs, she holds out her hands to each of her girls,”I will show you”, Catra and Kywa both place their hand on Neara’s, who holds onto them tightly, “Now close your eyes”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra and Kywa see their mother as a teenager walking through the halls of Mystacor, with Percival walking beside her. She sighed, "why are we even here it's not like these people can teach me anything I don't already know”, the boredom in her voice was clear.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s called being diplomatic, Neara, which is something you are going to have to learn before you become Queen”, Percival said as a small group of students come into view. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I have to put up with mediocre places for Diplomacy? BORING! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara scoffs as she watches students try and conjure runes, many of them drawn incorrectly, some not drawn to completion causing them to crumble in mid air, "</span>
  <em>
    <span>This</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Is what I'm supposed to be learning?! It is children's magic" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Percival swings around and whispers firmly into Neara’s ear, "might I make a strong suggestion Princess you keep your hubris in check! We are guests here and thus we will respect others and their customs, do I make myself clear?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Well aren't we a stuffy old fool.</span>
  </em>
  
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara rolls her eyes, "Fiiiine" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As Percival and Neara get closer to the students Norwyn approaches them, “Students, please welcome Princess Neara and Master Percival from the kingdom of Half-Moon, you’ll all have the unique privilege of being taught a few things from Master Percival today". </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Percival bows his head,”We thank you for your hospitality, Master Norwyn”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara sighed to herself and tuned out of the conversation, she looked around trying to find something else to keep her entertained. Her ears pricked up as she heard the voice of a small boy,”why can't I get this right!", she curiously walked in the direction of the voice and found a small black haired boy trying to conjure something that to Neara looked like a lopsided triangle, she watched him struggle a few times before stepping in.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Even a child can't do children's magic. Urgh this place! </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"You're doing it wrong", she watched the boy fail again and crossed her arms. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”I know that!, i just don’t know why it's wrong”, the little boy retorted smartly. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara smiled and stood in front of the little boy,”Here let me show you”, Neara held one palm out towards the boy and the other palm faced towards herself, she created a diamond out of the boys lopsided triangle</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Little boy smiled wide in excitement,”Wow! How did you do that?!"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara showed off a little more and gave the diamond more vertices turning it into an octahedron.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The little boy clapped his hands together,"Whoa! You're so good at this!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”Here, your turn and I'll help"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She returned the shape to the original triangle, he tried a few times with Neara giving him pointers before he eventually created the same shape that Neara did. The little boy stared at the shape with excitement, "I did it!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara laughed and roughed up his hair,"Well done", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Maybe this place isn’t so bad after all.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Micah?, What are you doing?”, Norwyn asked curiously. Neara waved her hand and made the shape disappear immediately. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”Sorry sir I was practising for class”, Micah said looking at the ground. Norwyn smiled and took him by the shoulder and guided him back towards the other students,”Well run along now otherwise you'll be late”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Micah goes to leave and turns back to Neara,”Bye!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara winked at him,”Don’t tell anyone I taught you that”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Micah laughed,”I won’t” and he ran off to join the others as they listened attentively to Percival, talking about creating a simple illusion. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara stayed behind the students and watched Percival create a piece of fruit. She watched the students try to mimic the same conjuration, the majority of them were terrible, except the one called Micah who recreated Percival's spell flawlessly. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara ears pricked up as she felt like she was being watched, she looked around and scanned the crowd, locking eyes with a tall figure standing off at a distance, she stared at Neara with piercing green eyes and a red scarf covering her nose and mouth. She stared at Neara in such a way it made her feel uncomfortable. She was about to go over and say something until Percival called out to her</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Princess Neara!", she walked over to Percival and stood beside him,"Princess Neara, she comes from a long line of direct-", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"descendants of D'riluth, given the strongest gift of illusionist magic", The tall figure came out. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Light Spinner? I didn't think you were joining us today?", Norwyn said with apprehension in his voice. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to meet such a gifted young lady" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara narrowed her eyes at Light Spinner. She didn't like this woman at all, "perhaps the young princess would be willing to show our students some of her skills"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Percival shakes his head, "I don't think that-" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Finally something exciting.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"No it's fine, I'll show them something", Neara interrupted. She could tell Light Spinner was smiling underneath her red scarf. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Light Spinner stood across from Neara,"perhaps maybe a little sparring to get the children excited about conjuration". </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"No disrespect… Light Spinner was it? That doesn't seem like a fair fight", Neara says mockingly. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The students look around at each other whispering and some try to hide their laughter, this infuriates Light Spinner,"I'm sure I'll manage" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Light Spinner creates a rune and throws it towards Neara trying to catch her off guard, Neara smiles and stops the rune out in front of her and fractures it in mid air,”You’re going to have to try a little harder than that </span>
  <em>
    <span>Light Spinner</span>
  </em>
  <span>”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Light Spinner grunts in frustration, creating several more runes and sending them all towards Neara, who simply recreates the spell she taught Micah, capturing all of Light Spinners runes. Neara holds her hand out as the octahedron spins getting smaller and smaller and then disappears.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”There is no way! How did you do that?”, Light Spinner yells at Neara.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>”Well if you were a better sorceress you’d know”, </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Percival steps in,”Neara enough!, You’ve made your point”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Both Catra and Kywa open their eyes and look at one another, Kywa is the first to crack a smile and then Catra laughs. Neara looks at them confused,”What? What about that was funny?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa giggles,”Who knew, the high ruler of the Magicats, was originally just a stubborn brat”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara holds her hand against her chest,”Kywa, growing up arrogant isn’t a good trait to have”, then she smiles,”Although I do admitting I always loved giving that woman a hard time”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“It was nice to see Shadow Weaver on the receiving end for once”, Catra said happily. Neara holds both of Catra’s hands tenderly,”Now it’s your turn my darling, please tell me everything i have missed”.</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>She-ra and Percival fight their way through the last of the hissing shadows in order to reach the runestones. Percival touches the central runestone but nothing happens, “The runestones are still at full strength, which means they are still close by”, he misses the faint bluish purple fog that is still flowing out of the crack. She-ra looks down into the lake of echoes and sees something at the bottom, she jumps in and picks up the stone knife and her heart sinks. </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. Chapter 14</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Kywa sits across from Neara and Catra, who has her head resting in Neara’s lap looking up at the stars. Neara puts her hand on Catra’s head,”You’ve been through so much and yet you’ve still made it home to us”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra closes her eyes,”I used to dream about opening that portal almost every night after…it's just…I am sorry for what i did”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara shakes her head and gently strokes Catra’s hair,”All we ever do in life is make decisions that feel right at the time Catra, feeling regret for what happened is normal, the one thing you have to remember though is in order to grow you can only move forward, so you can’t let that regret trap you in the past”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra sits up quickly and faces Neara,”so do you forgi-”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara cups Catra’s face in her hands, ”Stop...you don’t need forgiveness from me Catra, no matter how many years we've spent apart, my love for you always was and always will be unconditional.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looks down,"why are you all so understanding? , I don't get it" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa slides over to sit beside Catra and playfully puts an arm around her neck and rubs her knuckles in her hair, "Because that's what a family is supposed to be" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra giggles and slides her head out Kywa's grip and gives her a shove, "get off me!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They both look over to see Neara laughing, "it makes me happy to see you two getting along like this", Neara sighs and stands up,”unfortunately my girls there is one more thing we need to discuss before you leave”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa raises an eyebrow,”You’re not coming home with us?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara shakes her head,”not yet, I'm much more helpful to you both in here then out there right now”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Why?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara smiles,"Well stand up and I will show you”, she puts her hand out and a small purple cloud appears, a silver mask with cat features, small rounded ears and green crystal eyes slowly descends. Catra and Kywa look at each other and then back at the mask. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara levitates it in front of her as the girls stand up "This is the true mask of D’riluth" Neara lets the mask slowly rotate in her hands, the ornate details catching the light as it turns, “tradition dictates that now you've completed the trial, the mask is given to you with the idea being that you are to share its power”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She gives a sly smile, as the mask stops rotating Neara clicks her finger and snaps the mask evenly in half,"personally I'm not a fan of traditions and if you're going to help She-ra defeat the first ones, you're going to need something more substantial than a piece of old metal on your face".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara suspends the halves in either hand out in front of her and creates a rune to surround each of them. The middle of the rune emits a soft silvery glow. Both Kywa and Catra look at the runes in front of them hesitantly. Kywa is the first to stick her hand into the light, Kywa's hand touches something she looks at Neara who nods in encouragement. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As Kywa starts to pull out the hilt a thin line of crimson and white smoke wraps it's way up Kywa's arm and then spreads across her chest and eventually covering her whole body as she keeps pulling out the halberd. Once the tip of her weapon leaves the portal the smoke disappears and Kywa now stands in a crimson flowing buttoned up bodice, her hair much longer and tied back in a simple braid, she looks down at herself and in her hand she is holding a silver halberd.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Whoa", Kywa swings and twirls the halberd a few times and laughs. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra reaches into the portal and as she starts pulling out the hilt, a line or crimson and black smoke wraps around her arm, covering her the same way as it did Kywa, once the smoke disappears Catra stands in a black sleeveless leather jacket and pants, a flowing tattered crimson scarf wrapped around her waist. Her long hair hangs loosely behind her back. She looks down at her hand and is holding a long silver staff with a circular top. She inspects the top closely, then a small crimson light flows from her chest floating across and into the centre of the circle causing the multiple rings to fan out and orbit one another. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa looks at Catra’s staff,”Niiiiiice!”, Kywa scrunches up her nose and points her halberd at Catra,"wanna fight?", </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra rolls her eyes,"so i get to kick your butt a second time today?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa laughs holding her chest feigning hurt. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara who is now a little shorter, stands in front of the girls, "Catra you hold the staff of D'riluth and Kywa the halberd of D'riluth, they will help you harass the power of continuum".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"but that's your power", Kywa looks at her mother questioningly. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara nods,”and from what I've learned from Mara's history she tried her best to stop the First One’s essentially on her own", she touches each of their cheeks, "my aim is to ensure Adora has all the help she needs to stop them" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"That's why you're staying", Catra said with a hint of sadness in her voice. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara nods, "now let me show you how to use it" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Percival is sitting in front of the runestones with his eyes closed and his fingers intertwined, meditating. His eyes moving rapidly under his closed lids, the voice of a young Neara filters into his thoughts.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m going to run away and you’ll never find me old man!</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Percival’s eyes open and he stares at the central runestone and finally notices the bluish purple fog. He laughs to himself,”I should have known you’d be safe Neara”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>As he stands up he calls out to She-ra,”I know where they are”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She-ra is still standing in the pool of echoes staring at the knife, she didn’t hear Percival call out to her.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Adora!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She-ra looks up at Percival,"I know where they are". She drops the knife and jumps up onto the platform,"Where?!, Are they safe?!”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“They’re fine, they’re with their mother”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She-ra’s eyes widened,”Wait! She’s alive?!”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Percival nods and touches the central runestone, "whenever Neara was being a hot headed little girl she used to come in here and hide from me and her parents".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Adora readies her sword, "so how do we get in" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Percival touches the tip of her sword and points it downward , "Easy there, we don't get in, we wait" </span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Neara pinches the bridge of her nose, "Right, I think we've established neither of you can draw a simple rune" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Ah no, my half-moon was perfect", Kywa folds her arms proudly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"no it wasn't! Yours was uneven", Catra retorted. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"was not!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"was too!" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara rubs her temples in frustration,"OK! Catra's was almost good enough. Kywa, all that time in Purrsia with your father has affected your rune making. I taught you better than that", Kywa gave a low growl and Catra poked her tongue out.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She motions for the girls to come closer, "Quickly, again" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra and Kywa stand next to each other, they put their arm outs and extend their index finger, a small bright light appears at the tip of their index claw. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Now both of you focus", Neara whispers.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Both Catra and Kywa concentrate as they move in unison, each of them creating a perfect half moon, as they finish the rune burns bright white and they slide together, a small portal swirls open. Catra and Kywa stare at the portal and fist bump, they turn around to Neara, who is quietly wiping tears from her eyes, they both go over and hug her,”My darling girls, I am so proud of the both of you”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Are you sure you can’t come with us?”, Catra asks</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara gives a weak smile and shakes her head,”But don’t worry we'll be together soon”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Promise?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Promise, now go”. Neara gently pushes them away,”Always remember I love you both very much”. They turn around and walk towards the portal, looking back as they enter and the image of their mother slowly disappears.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Back in the inner chamber Percival watches closely as the bluish purple fog disappears, he motions for She-ra to move back. A bright full moon rune appears in front of them, then splits evenly and separates, a portal swirls open. Kywa steps out first, Percival's mouth drops open,"What is this?". </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra steps out behind and the portal swirls shut. She-ra goes bright red and her sword slips out of her hand and hits the ground with a metallic thud that echoes around the inner chamber, Catra gives her a sly smile,"guess you're not the only powerful tall one around here now".</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Hot…..I mean, HOW, how did this happen?", She-ra said as she clumsily picks up her sword. Before Catra can answer, a single long translucent feather floats down. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Back in Brightmoon Glimmer has a mess of papers laid out on the table, "Dad we're going to need to make preparations for the princess alliance meeting tomorrow" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Micah doesn't answer; he stands at the window looking distractedly at the moonstone.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Dad?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"huh? sorry, I was just…. Actually come here, has the moonstone always had that strange tinge to it?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Glimmer walks over to the window, "what do you mean?". The moonstone has a faint crimson tinge to it, she frowns, "no it hasn't", she holds onto her father and teleports over to the moonstone.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>When they arrive they notice that the red tinge has gotten a little brighter. They watch as a bright full moon rune appears and then separates, opening a portal. Both Micah and Glimmer are on guard, until they see a familiar silhouette appear.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Glimmer stands in shocked silence for a moment before she starts crying,”MUM!”, she teleports over to Angella and hugs her tightly.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh Glimmer”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Micah cautiously steps forward, "Angie?" </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Angella looks over and puts her hand to her mouth, "Micah?!".</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. Chapter 15</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Percival holds Kywa’s halberd in his hand, investigating it closely, "You’re telling me this was part of the mask?”</p><p> </p><p>Kywa nods, “Pretty impressive huh?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes impressive indeed, the true mask hasn’t been seen for quite some time and after it was corrupted by C’yra it was thought the true mask no longer existed, so really what’s more impressive is how your mother even found it!”, he hands the halberd back to Kywa.</p><p> </p><p>Catra stands behind them lost in thought, she thought about Neara mostly with a hint of sadness as she so desperately wanted her to come back through the portal with her and Kywa, she twirls the staff around on it’s hilt and watches the top as it spins, recalling when she thought meeting her father was like a puzzle fitting together perfectly, but now after meeting her mother the puzzle felt bigger and elaborate and more importantly she felt as though she was part of the puzzle now, Catra smiled to herself she finally felt special. </p><p> </p><p>Her ears pricked up as she heard She-ra approaching, she stands beside Catra and leans on her sword giving her a dorky smile, Catra looks at her and raises an eyebrow, "What?”</p><p> </p><p>“You should definitely wear leather more often”,She-ra stands behind Catra and hugs her.</p><p> </p><p>Catra smirks and turns around, putting her arms around She-ra’s neck, "Well just imagine how good i look now out of it”, she whispers, She-ra goes bright red as Catra laughs cheekily.</p><p> </p><p>”If you two are done being gross, we need to get out of here”, Kywa calls out to them.</p><p> </p><p>Percival steps out past the inner chamber doors, the ground still has a dark amber tinge to it, they are greeted by a larger crowd of Magicats that have gathered. The soft conversations start to hush when Percival steps aside allowing the Magicats to see Catra and Kywa, for a moment there is complete silence and then slowly one by one the Magicats kneel and bow their heads.</p><p> </p><p>“What….what are they doing?”, Catra whispered to Percival.</p><p> </p><p>Percival smiles , "Paying their respects to their Queen's"</p><p> </p><p>“Queen’s?! That escalated quickly!”, Kywa whispered.</p><p> </p><p>Percival laughs, "well until your mother comes back the both of you are in charge". He looks out over the crowd, "D'riluth help all of us" he says under his breath.</p><p> </p><p>"why can't you be in charge?", Catra asks.</p><p> </p><p>Percival shakes his head, "Only direct descendants can rule, that has always been the way and the Queen’s connection to D’riluth is what keeps the rest of us strong, even more so now that your mother has bestowed her power to you".</p><p> </p><p>Catra takes a moment to look at the crowd, as her eyes scan the crowd she locks eyes with a small Magicat toddler, their tiny pointy ears twitch and their tiny eyes blink as they stare back at Catra, a wide toothy smile spreads across their tiny round face. Catra puts a hand on her chest as her heart melts.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> Is this what it feels like to help people? Do they…do they need me? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Catra’s thoughts are broken by She-ra laughing.</p><p> </p><p>“What? what’s so funny?”</p><p> </p><p>“<em> Queen </em>Catra, wait till i tell Glimmer!”</p><p> </p><p>Catra groans and puts her head in her hands, "Oh sparkles is going to have a field day with this”.</p><h1>***</h1><p>Angella, Glimmer and Micah are sitting underneath the moonstone. Micah sits with his chin resting on his hand listening to Angella recount her story of being saved by Neara, "And Neara? Where is she now?”.</p><p> </p><p>Angella looked down at her hands resting in her lap, "She had to stay behind”</p><p> </p><p>"Will she come back?", Glimmer said, trying to read her mother’s expression.</p><p> </p><p>Angella sighs, "I don’t know Glimmer, I would like to think so one day, because the inhabitants of Half-Moon have always been synergistic in nature. I'm not sure how they will function without their queen".</p><p> </p><p>Glimmer thinks for a moment and clicks her fingers, "Then we get them to join the princess alliance!”.</p><p> </p><p>“Glimmer I don’t think that is a good idea”, Angella said reservedly.</p><p> </p><p>“Why not?, I’ve met Kywa and I put up with Catra almost everyday so it shouldn’t be that hard to convince them to join, besides if Half-Moon needs help isn’t that what the alliance is for?”</p><p> </p><p>Micah reaches out and touches Angella’s hand, "She has a point Angie".</p><p> </p><p>Angella smiles and places her hand on top of Micah's, "I suppose we can try"</p><p> </p><p>Glimmer stands up immediately, "Great! I'll send word to Adora!", Glimmer teleports away.</p><h1>***</h1><p>Kywa makes her way outside the entrance to Half-Moon alone, she sits on a broken grey marble pillar, looking over the ruins. She sighs and hangs her head, the full burden of what she has to do has finally hit her. She looked up at stars burning brightly in the night sky.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> How am I going to rebuild an entire kingdom without your help? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>She sat for a moment hoping her silent question would be magically answered. It wasn't, she sighed again and closed her eyes.</p><p> </p><p>"So this is where you got too", Tao came and sat down beside Kywa who gave him a weak smile.</p><p> </p><p>"What are you worried about?", Tao says as he wraps his arms around his knees.</p><p> </p><p>"How are we supposed to do any of this without her?"</p><p> </p><p>"Kywa, if your mother didn't think either of you were capable of leading she would've come home, I think you're underestimating yourself", he places a hand on her shoulder, "and Catra, don’t forget she has a say in this as much as you do now, you don't have to do this alone".</p><p> </p><p>"You two talking about me?", Catra comes and leans against the cave entrance. Tao smiles and gets up</p><p> </p><p>"It’s getting a little too cold out here for my old bones, I'll leave you two to chat", Kywa watches as her father goes back inside, tenderly touching Catra on the shoulder as he passes her. Catra comes over and sits next to Kywa.</p><p> </p><p>Catra looks up at the sky, "so what were you and dad talking about?"</p><p> </p><p>Kywa sighs, "rebuilding Half-Moon, problem is I don't even know where to start”.</p><p> </p><p>Catra answers without taking her eyes off the night sky, "Don’t worry we can figure it out”. Kywa looks at Catra. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em> We? </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Kywa smiled to herself. Now the task of rebuilding didn’t seem so big.</p><h1>***</h1><p>Catra stands in front of a full length mirror. Adora had already left to fill everyone in about Half-Moon joining the princess alliance. Catra was wearing black suit pants and a white shirt she reaches over and takes the forest green tie off the mirror, the Half-Moon insignia embroidered on it with silver thread. She throws it over her neck and leaves it hanging and just stares at it for a moment, with a determined look on her face she grabs either end and attempts to tie it, she growls in frustration as one side is longer than the other, she pulls the tie off and starts again eventually tying it successfully.  </p><p> </p><p>There comes a knock on the door and Catra heads over taking her black vest off the bed and putting it on, as she fastens the vest she puts her hand on the pocket making sure her part of the mask was there, she had turned it into a silver pocket watch. </p><p> </p><p>Catra opened the door to find Kywa dressed in a similar outfit except she didn't have a tie on. Her Half-Moon insignia was embroidered on her shirt pocket. Kywa wore her mask as an elaborate silver bracelet, "ready?"</p><p> </p><p>Catra nods closing the door behind her as she steps out behind Kywa and follows her down the corridor. They enter the meeting room and all the princesses are there and when Scorpia sees both Kywa and Catra, "whoa it's like there's two Catra’s?!"</p><p> </p><p>Mermista eyes the both of them and then folds her arms, "uh, why is she here?!”</p><p> </p><p>”Mermista we’ve already talked about Catra”, Adora sighed.</p><p> </p><p>”Not her, Her!”, Mermista said pointing at Kywa.</p><p> </p><p>Kywa awkwardly waves, "Hey scary fish lady”. Mermista scoffs as Catra and Kywa walk around to their seats.</p><p> </p><p>"what did you do to the water princess?",Catra whispered</p><p> </p><p>"One time I stumbled into Salineas and I may have accidentally bitten her because I thought she was a real fish", Kywa whispered back</p><p> </p><p>Catra tries to muffle a laugh as she takes her seat</p><p> </p><p>“What?! I was really hungry” Kywa says, trying to stop herself from laughing.</p><p> </p><p>Swiftwind coughs and approaches the table near, "Ah yeah, quick observation, I see that we do allow animals at the table, that being said I'd just like to point out I asked for a seat well and truly before we got new members so I should be entitled to one too".</p><p> </p><p>Kywa gave Swiftwind a serious sideways glance, "Did you just call me an animal?”,</p><p> </p><p>Swiftwind scoffs, "I mean you have fur so obviously an animal”</p><p> </p><p>Kywa growls at him. Swiftwind backs up, "You know what I'm fine standing here, we can talk about my seat later”.</p><p> </p><p>The rest of the meeting goes on with the main topic of discussion being about helping Half-Moon, Glimmer suggested the majority of the Magicats come to Brightmoon since they aren’t at risk anymore from the horde. Catra suggested that Percival and a handful of high ranking Magicats stay behind and help with the rebuilding efforts. Suddenly there came an urgent knock on the door, "Come in!”, Glimmer called out.</p><p> </p><p>A Brightmoon guard entered, "I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, we received word from Purrsia, they’ve been attacked”.</p><p> </p><p>Kywa and Catra stood up immediately, "What?!, By who?!”</p><p> </p><p>“The Shadows of Clawdeen”</p><p> </p><p>Kywa gave a low and deep growl, Catra looked at Kywa, she could tell something was wrong with the way Kywa’s body had just tensed up, "Who are they?”</p><p> </p><p>“Purrsians who still believe C’yra to be the rightful ruler”</p><p> </p><p>“Ok so why do you look stressed out about it?”</p><p> </p><p>“Their leader Gabriel....is Rogue’s father. We need to go home, now!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Chapter 16</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Faaaascinating”, Entrapta walked on her hair over to the portal that Catra and Kywa opened, she puts down her facemask, and frantically types on her touchpad, "The stability is perfect! Can I touch it?”, she tries to touch the portal with her hand, Glimmer slaps it away</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you sure you don’t need us to go with you?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not yet, I’m not even sure what we’re going to walk into”, Kywa said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Besides if we need you, you can just sprinkle your glitter dust”, Catra quipped.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re absolutely right, </span>
  <em>
    <span>your Majesty</span>
  </em>
  <span>”, Glimmer smirked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra’s eyebrow twitched as she glared at Adora, "You </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually</span>
  </em>
  <span> told her?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora smiles, “I </span>
  <em>
    <span>absolutely</span>
  </em>
  <span> did”. Catra closes her eyes and gives Adora a playful shove into the portal. Adora falls out of the other side into the marketplace of Purrsia. Catra and Kywa come through with Tao behind them, they slowly walk through the marketplace which was empty, apart from a few hot food bowls that sat on a counter half empty but still steaming. They come to the end of the marketplace and they see several red flags with a black outline of a snarling lion face on it. Tao narrows his eyes and growls, "Clawdius is here too!….”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra looks at Kywa who shrugs her shoulders, Tao rips down one of the flags and tears it to shreds and notices his girls staring strangely at him, ”Clawdius was one of a small band of Magicats that defected, they weren’t happy with your mother’s leadership and how she wanted to protect them from the horde as opposed to joining them”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The conversation is disrupted by the sound of footsteps from approaching soldiers, they quickly hide behind a nearby stall and wait, the black jaguar soldiers come through dressed in simple brown leather armour, one of them stops at the ripped up flag and bends down to inspect it, Tao sneaks out disarming him and knocking him out, the girls make light work of the other soldiers, they follow Tao in the direction the soldiers came, making sure to keep out of sight. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As they make their way towards the castle, Catra notices movement from a nearby bush; she taps Adora on the shoulder and points, Adora nods and they make their way over and push their way through the bushes trying to catch whoever it was off guard, forcing one of the castle soldiers to fall backwards, they finally see there is a handful of injured soldiers that have found refuge in the small cramped area</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What happened?”, Catra asked the soldier.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Gabriel had armed soldiers storm the castle, they've got Rogue and Elliott, we tried to get back in but were forced out, so we came here to regroup"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?!, Where are Elira and Bethiah?!",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The soldier took a deep breath and shook their head, "We don’t know”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa begins to breathe angrily and turns around to leave. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Kywa wait!", Catra says, she turns to Adora, "can you stay here and help them?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora nods, "of course, you go”, Catra smiles and tenderly kisses Adora on the forehead. Then leaves with Kywa and they make their way to the castle.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As they enter the courtyard it is eerily quiet, they notice there are two soldiers guarding the main entrance so they sneak around the side to avoid them and cautiously made their way into the castle and towards the dining room, they come face to face with Gabriel and his entourage of armoured Magicats, Gabriel’s green eyes meet Kywa’s and he smiles, Rogue is sitting quietly with Elliott huddled against her, the Magicats behind him are ready to fight until Gabriel puts up his hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Not in front of my grandchild", he directs his attention to Kywa "ah my dearest daughter-in-law, come and join us”. He motions for them to sit down. Kywa exchanges a glance with Rogue who cunningly made the sign for “</span>
  <em>
    <span>cliff”</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Kywa nodded and smiled sarcastically at Gabriel</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"thank you for allowing me to sit at my </span>
  <em>
    <span>own</span>
  </em>
  <span> table", </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel laughed, " you know I've always admired that about you Kywa your propensity for humour in the face of adversity".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa growls, "don't patronise me Gabriel! What do you want?",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Want? I don’t want what I already have, everything that YOU and that idiot father of yours left behind”, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"actually there is something I want", came a voice, from the other side of the dining room stood a pink male lion, he voluminous mane matched his fur, framing his face perfectly, there were faint blue and purple tabby stripes on his face and arms, he walks in and stands behind Gabriel's and rests a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra narrows her eyes at the lion, there was a familiarity in his emerald eyes. Almost as if she had seen them before. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius takes out an old red and rusty mask of D'riluth and throws it on the table, "It would seem my mask stopped working and I have a sneaking suspicion your mother knows why".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He leans over the table and bears his teeth, "Where is she?!".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh is she not here?”, Kywa rolls her eyes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>That voice, why have i heard it before?</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Catra thought</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius clenches his fist and notices Catra frowning at him; he walks over and forcefully holds up her chin, "This must be the child you left out in the wilderness all those years ago, let's see if she knows". Catra stared into his eyes, then she remembered why those eyes looked so familiar.</span>
</p><h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>It was nighttime and it was cold and Catra didn’t know where she was, she tried to find Kywa and called out her name but she couldn’t find her anywhere, She sniffled as she dragged the box she had been playing with behind her through the dense bush, nothing here looked like home to her. Everything was bright and strange looking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She didn't like it here. It was scary, she heard a strange </span>
  <em>
    <span>hooooo</span>
  </em>
  <span> noise coming from a nearby tree and quickly crawled back into the box to hide from it, she curled up and started to cry again. She wanted to go home.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra heard something walking and tried to muffle her cry and then suddenly the box began to move. Catra poked her head out and saw a tall pink lion she looked up at their emerald eyes,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well well well, hello there little one”, he bends down to pick Catra up. He smiled but Catra didn’t like it, "You look just like your mother”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra's tiny ears twitched, "You know my mummy?”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh yes, you could say she and I were best friends, how about we take you home”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mummy told me my home is called Half-Moon”, Catra says excitedly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The pink lion laughed, "Oh little one I have a much better home to take you to”.</span>
</p><h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>Catra bared her teeth and forcefully slapped his hand away, "don't you dare touch me!", </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius smirks, "What’s the matter </span>
  <em>
    <span>little one</span>
  </em>
  <span>?”. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra creates a bright fiery light and shoves it in Clawdius' face. He yowls putting his hands up to his face and he steps backwards. Gabriel immediately gets to his feet only for Rogue to jump over the table and kick him in the chest and he falls back into his chair and  it tips backwards. Kywa gets up and throws her bracelet to Catra as she tackles Clawdius, "Take him somewhere safe!”, she yells.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra thinks for a moment before grabbing Elliott’s hand and rushes back through the castle, running straight through the front doors and catching a soldier off guard, she shoulder charges them and they fly over the balcony and into the garden below.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra and Elliott start to climb, below them a small band of soldiers that come out through the front doors looking for them. She looks at Elliott and puts a finger against her lips, he nods and follows Catra quietly up the side of the castle.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As they get closer to the top they can hear soft sobbing. Catra is the first to get to the top; she puts her hand out to help Elliott on to the cliff. Catra hears one of the twins shoosh the other one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Elira? Bethiah?”, Catra whispers. There’s a sudden rustle for the nearby bushes as the twins pop their heads out, their wild hair full of twigs and leaves.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Aunty Catra!”, they yell as they run into her arms and hug her tightly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Are you both ok? How long were you two in there?”, Catra says as she unconsciously started picking the debris out of their hair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Mama Rogue brought us up here and told us to hide”, Elira said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Did we do a good job?”, Bethiah said looking up at Catra. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra felt a familiar tug in her chest and smiled, tenderly stroked their hair, "you’ve both been very brave”.</span>
</p><h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>A couple of Magicats use runes to force Kywa to her knees with another one binding her hands to the ground. Gabriel is holding Rogue back as she struggles against him, "I really wish you'd stop that!", He says while trying to adjust his grip on her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius gets to his feet a small singed mark on his face where Catra hit him. He walks over to Kywa and bends down resting his arms on his knees.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You were always more trouble than you were worth", he grabs a hold of Kywa's chin, "now I will ask you again. Where. Is. Your. Mother".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa laughs to herself, "somewhere you'll never find her"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius scans Kywa's face and then smiles, "she's dead is she, well now you're making this too easy", he gets to his feet, "take her outside to the terrace". </span>
</p><p> </p><p><span>Clawdius leaves the dining room. Gabriel hands off Rogue to another Magicat who binds her wrists, she looks longingly at Kywa who mouths the words,</span> <span>“</span><em><span>it’s ok</span></em><span>”, as she goes past. The Magicat controlling Kywa’s wrist binds, waves their hands and turns them into chains and pulls Kywa to her feet and drags her behind them as they follow Clawdius outside. </span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What are you going to do to her?!”, Rogue shouted at Clawdius.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh he’s going to make an example out of me. Such a big scary man”, Kywa says sarcastically through pursed lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa hit a nerve because Clawdius gives a deep growl and walks over and grabs her by the collar of her shirt, "I will be so glad to be rid of you”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait, Clawdius you didn’t say we were killing anyone! We were only supposed to take Purrsia back”, Gabriel said hesitantly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You’re not killing anyone darling, I simply consider this a much needed sacrifice for me to be one step closer to the greatest power in the universe”, Gabriel gave Kywa an evil smile as he pushes her towards the balcony, “besides I don't need both of Neara's daughter's to take back the mask, I just need the strongest one". He pushes Kywa off the balcony.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“NOOOOOO!”, Rogue cries out and breaks free from Gabriel and punches Clawdius. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He grabs her by the wrists and pushes her back to Gabriel, "CONTROL YOUR DAUGHTER BEFORE I SEND HER OVER AS WELL!". He rubs his cheek as he goes back inside the castle, "FIND THE OTHERS, NOW!”, he yells.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. Chapter 17</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Catra jumps down to a small sandstone balcony on the upper levels of the castle, the amount of vines running across the walls and weeds growing up through the gaps in the pathways proves what Catra originally thought when Kywa brought her past here, the upper levels of the castle haven't been inhabited for many years. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Which would make it a perfect hiding spot for the children, she thought. She hacks away at the overgrowth before returning to the balcony ledge, grabbing a tight hold of each twin as Elliott passes them to her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Stay close okay", Catra whispers as they walk quietly along the balcony, they pass several rooms that contain old rotten wood furniture and weathered wooden crates.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Aunty Catra look", Elliott said, Catra backtracks and found that Elliott was pointing at a solid black oak door at the end of one of the empty rooms. The twins each held one of Elliott’s hands as Catra walked up to the door, she gently pushed on the door the rusty hinges resisted a little as it opened.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Are we going in there?", Elira said hesitantly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I don’t want to! It's dark in there!",Bethiah said loudly. Her voice caused something to make a noise behind the door. The children huddled closer to Catra, who instinctively extended her claws as she pushed the door a little harder, a flurry of bats flew out into the empty room. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra turned and huddled over the children as the twins started crying, she felt the bats brush against her back as they flew out. Catra raised her head as the sound of batting wings subsided, a few bats hung from the ceiling in the empty room stretching out their wings. She tried to stand up and heard her shirt tear a little, she looked down and saw the twins were clenching her shirt tightly and their eyes were closed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It’s ok the bats are gone”, Catra says softly as she puts a hand on each of their heads, they both sniffle and look up at Catra.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I’m scared”, Bethiah said through her tears.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Me too!” Elira said, roughly wiping her eyes. Elliott tried to put on a brave face even though their eyes were misty.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey, hey, it’s ok to be scared”,Catra sits down and tenderly touches each of their cheeks,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“The important thing you have to remember is that nothing really bad can happen to you as long as you have each other”, Catra smiles tenderly at Elliott and then the twins. She pauses a moment realising what she said and then smiles to herself, she stands up, “Come on then let’s go”. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra pushes the door all the way open and enters, the damp and musty smell invaded her nostrils causing her to immediately turn up her nose, she created a small orb of light, letting it slowly pass around the room, there were boxes with faded Half-Moon insignia’s on them. Catra walked over to them, many of the boxes were open, some of them had black and brown leather books and others had scrolls, many of which were badly weathered and rotting away, she twitched her nose, this was definitely the source of the terrible smell.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra walked over to the only bookshelf in the room, several of the books here were in decent enough condition, she picked up one and flicked through a few pages the contents were hand written almost like a journal.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Look at the pretty box up there”, Elira pointed to a small tarnished silver box on the top of the bookshelf. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra held the book in one hand and climbed up the bookshelf to get to the box, she reached up and grabbed it jumping back down to the ground, she turned it over in her hand and then sat down on the ground, putting the book down next to her, the children sat down across from her just as intrigued. Catra gave the box a shake, it didn’t make a sound.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Elliott reached across and picked up the book, ”This is Granny Neara’s writing”, he flicked through a few more pages and a small drawing fell out. Catra picked it up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I made this for you - For my one true love</span>
  </em>
  <span>” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Was written across the back, she turned the picture over and her eyes widened. There stood her mother as a teenager, she wore a flowing white dress and her hair braided and draped over her shoulder, the artist had taken care to give her as much detail as possible and next to her stood a happy pink lion with a tiny shaggy mane in a Magicat robe.</span>
</p><h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1><p>
  <em>
    <span>This wasn't what we had planned</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel thought to himself as he sighed, he lounges back in the chair and rests his heels on the balcony and looks up at the moon. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The whole idea was he needed Rogue to help run Purrsia like they had planned all those years ago, but now, now she refused to talk to him. He couldn't blame her really. Getting rid of Kywa wasn't part of the plan. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He scratched his claws along his forehead. This seemed like such a simple plan at first. With Tao away and the majority of the Purrsian army fighting off the horde, taking over Purrsia should've been easy, but today's events…</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel's ears twitch as he hears approaching footsteps, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Need some company?", Clawdius said as he leaned against the door frame.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel shrugged his shoulders indifferently. Clawdius pushes himself off the door frame and pulls up a chair to sit behind Gabriel, resting his chin on his shoulder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Are you still angry about this afternoon?", Clawdius said with a small hint of concern in his voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You've made things difficult now, you realise", </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"How so? I promised you a kingdom and that is what you have"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Gabriel frowns,"I can't run a kingdom without Rogue and not to mention Kywa-"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"She was unimportant and nothing but a distraction, do you not want Purrsia?",he kisses Gabriel's neck,"or would you prefer I take it off your hands and keep it for myself?", Clawdius drapes an arm over Gabriel's shoulder and tenderly runs his claws along the fur on Gabriel's chest. Gabriel shivers under his touch.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A cheeky smile spreads across Clawdius’ face and whispers in Gabriel's ear,"or perhaps I should take something else off you?", He nuzzles the back of Gabriel's neck.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A spotted jaguar soldier coughs from the doorway to get their attention.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What is it?", Clawdius said, annoyed</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The soldier bowed,"sorry to interrupt sir, it's just we still haven't found Catra or the other children"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Then why are you here annoying us?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"We've looked everywhere, perhaps we could resume the search in the morning?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius thinks for a moment ,"have you looked through the other floors?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The soldier raised their eyebrows surprised,"the other floors?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius growled,"yes the other floors of THIS castle!”, he immediately gets out of his chair,”you know what", and walks over to the soldier and puts a finger under their chin,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'll send </span>
  <em>
    <span>MY</span>
  </em>
  <span> people to go look", he gently taps the soldier's face before walking off.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'd certainly hate for your poor soldiers to get tired darling", he voice echoes outside as Gabriel rubs his fingers against his temples.</span>
</p><h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>“Ok so this wasn’t one of my better ideas”, Kywa says to herself as she clings upside down onto an overhanging branch, the sun was just disappearing below the horizon and she was feeling slightly dizzy from having been there so long,  she counted on getting under Clawdius’ skin but didn’t predict being flung over a balcony. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She steadied herself as she tried again to unbind her hands from the Magicat runes but couldn’t and almost lost her grip, she wrapped her legs tighter around the branch as it shakes a few times and then she hears a crack.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, no, no, no!”, she says as the branch breaks away from the cliff, she falls a short distance until a vine wraps around her tail pulling on it tight, leaving Kywa hanging in the air.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"OW! careful that is attached to….to the rest of me!",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Perfuma brings her slowly down to the ground, putting her down awkwardly. With her face on the ground and tail in the air.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Oh my! I'm so sorry! I hope I didn't hurt you!", Perfuma stands over her holding her hands together. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Nothing a little ice bath wouldn't fix", Kywa says through her muffled voice, her tail still in the air. Frosta freezes her tail. Kywa jumps up and tries to shake the ice off her tail, "Not that kind of ice!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”I didn’t realise you were whiny like your sister”, Frosta said, smugly folding her arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Frosta be nice, we're here to help", Glimmer said as she approached Kywa she looked at the Runes around her hands. Kywa gave a crooked smile and raised up her wrists,"please?".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Glimmer waves her hand across Kywa's wrists and the Runes fall apart. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"where's Catra?", Adora said</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa rubbing her wrists,"I have an idea of where she is, it's just a matter of getting up there without being seen"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Scorpia runs up to everyone puffed out,"we might have bigger problems, I may have been spotted by an army and they have tanks"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Which way?", Kywa asked.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"That way, over there", Scorpia pointed without looking.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa raised an eyebrow,"have you no sense of direct-", there was a sudden boom and a mortar shell hit the cliff behind the princess's, large rocks and debris started to fall. Spinnerella creates a tornado and collects it all and then funnels it back at the tanks.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Well I think they know we're here now", Adora says as her sword materialises in her hand.</span>
</p><h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>Catra’s ears pricked up as she heard an echoing boom,”sounds like Sparkles and her cavalry arrived”, she smiled at her own joke. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She looked over to Elliott and the twins who had curled up and fallen asleep, she settled back down near the door, she took the drawing out of her mother’s journal and looked it over again, the pink lion in the drawing, there was a kindness in their eyes which Catra didn’t see in Clawdius’ eyes earlier, there was something vaguely familiar about what his bravado hid.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Betrayal</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Yes. Catra knew exactly what those kinds of eyes looked like, she knew it all too well, she ran her thumb across Neara’s face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did you do?”, she whispered to herself.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Chapter 18</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Clawdius sat in Tao’s study waiting for the Magicat he summoned, his chin resting on his fingers as he stared absently into the slow burning fire in the fireplace, the orange light danced across his face. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>...Somewhere you'll never find her</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He cursed the quietness of Tao’s study, apart from the crackling of the fire all he could hear now was Kywa’s words over and over again. He sighed as he rubbed a finger along the bridge of his nose. Why was it so hard to believe Neara was gone.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>More importantly why do you care? </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Clawdius frowned as he could feel tears welling up, he still cared after all these years. He growled as he roughly wiped his eyes, as he pulled his hands away he caught sight of the blue and white lattice braided bracelet he wore, his expression softened and he tenderly ran his index claw underneath it, even now after all these years the memory of it gave him comfort.</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Young Clawdius ran his hand through his tiny mane as he sat cross legged on Neara’s bed, he studied her face closely as she sat on her window ledge looking out over the forest surrounding castle Half-Moon.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He closed one eye and lifted his hand holding out a small piece of long charcoal. His breathing hitched slightly as Neara pulled her long braid over her shoulder. He forced himself to look back at his small handheld easel, he had to make sure he got the proportions right. This drawing had to be special, he was terrible with words but hoped that sharing this with her might tell her everything he wanted her to know.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>He looked up again and this time Neara turned to look at him, she quickly got off the ledge and came over to sit on the bed, she tried to peer over his easel, Clawdius immediately responded by covering it with his hand. Neara looked up at him with a small pout.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“What are you drawing and why can’t i look at it?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Because”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Because why?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Because you can't see it yet!",</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara dramatically collapses on the bed,”That’s not fair, I’ve seen all of your drawings before”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"Well I'm taking extra care with this one because I want you to be excited when you see it", Clawdius says playfully.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara sits up and straightens her hair,”Well you’re lucky I am a patient girl”, Neara’s eyes widen and she quickly jumps off the bed ,“OH! That reminds me!”, she makes her way over to her dresser and opens a small silver box, she pauses for a moment before taking something out and hiding it in her hand. She sits back on the bed in front of Clawdius and puts out her hand.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Give me your wrist”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Clawdius raises an eyebrow as he closes his easel,"why?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara laughs,"Just trust me" and shakes her hand impatiently.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Clawdius gives her his wrist and Neara tenderly puts the braided bracelet around his wrist. Clawdius lifted his arm, the bracelet was big enough to fit half way down it. He had to admit it was a pretty bracelet, the way the blue and white leather wrapped around each other and culminated in a tiny silver clasp. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Clawdius frowned at it, trying to be coy,"it's a little big isn't it?"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara smiles, giving back the same cheeky energy,”Well it was the first one i ever made, besides this way you can wear it forever!”. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Neara laughed and Clawdius blushed, he loved the way she laughed.</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>“Sir? You wanted to see me?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Clawdius frantically blinked as the voice brought him back to reality. He cleared his throat and stood up putting his hands behind his back.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes, I need to know if you or any of the others are familiar with the castle’s layout”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Magicat nods,”There is myself and another, we’ve been here several times”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Does that include the upper levels?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>"The upper levels aren't in use though"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Clawdius intimidatingly closed the distance between them,"that is not the question I asked you"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Magicat’s ear went back and they gulped,"yes...yes I'm familiar with the upper levels"</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Clawdius backed down a little, "Good I need them searched immediately, the sooner the better”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Magicat nods,”Of course sir”, they turn to leave. Clawdius turns back around and stares into the fire again, absently playing with the bracelet on his wrist.</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel takes a deep breath and knocks on the door where Rogue had locked herself away, he took a hold of the handle and turned it, worried she had locked him out again. This time though the handle turned, he slowly walked in and noticed Rogue sitting over at a small table with a chess board, she heard him come in but ignores the sound and continues to move a black bishop piece. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“You still play?”, Gabriel asked with slight excitement.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Well it was one of the decent skills you taught me”, Rogue said without looking at Gabriel while she moved the opposing piece.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel flinched a little at her words,“Can I join?”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rogue lays down her Queen piece,”Is this how you want to spend your time, making small talk over a game”, she sits back in her chair and folds her arms.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel pauses for a moment and hung his head,"You have to believe me, I didn’t know Clawdius was going to do that”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rogue growls and gets up from the table,”Exactly! You don't think! You can’t see when you’re being used!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Clawdius is sympathetic to our cause unlike you! You abandoned me AND our cause!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rogue laughed,”Cause?! What Cause?! Some idiotic excuse of restoring Purrsia, yet you and i both know it was always just some way to twist your personal feelings for Tao into some kind of ridiculous pursuit!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel bared his teeth,”Don’t you dare bring that up!”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rogue narrowed her eyes as she walked over to face him,”Really, Tell me </span>
  <em>
    <span>father</span>
  </em>
  <span> why is Clawdius here? To help you? Or to help himself?”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Gabriel relaxed his expression as he considered what Rogue had said, before he could answer his eyes rolled back and he fell to the ground. Behind him stood Kywa and Scorpia with her stinger out. Kywa bends down and lifts up Gabriel’s paw and lets it go it slumps back down</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“How long does it last”, Kywa asked Scorpia.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Scorpia shrugged her shoulders,“Oh it varies, depends on how freaked out I am at the time”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rogue bends down and gently puts a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder and whispers,”Sorry dad”,</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa stands up,”I mean you should really be apologising for that terrible acting”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Rogue stands up and smirks,”I doubt that very much I distinctly remember a time where I tricked you into being in love with me for </span>
  <em>
    <span>several</span>
  </em>
  <span> months”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa frowns and pouts,”That….that hurts my feelings”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, we could use some help out here”, came Perfuma’s tentative voice from outside.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“We don’t need help! I finally have a tank!”, She-ra said.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Put that dow-”, Perfuma started to say, before they heard She-ra grunting and then a large crash, “down...Oh dear”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kywa and Rogue looked at each other with a raised eyebrow.</span>
</p>
<h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1>
<p>
  <span>Catra paced the room slowly, the pile of journals she had read was slowly increasing, many of them so far were filled with mundane daily happenings, many of the entries as she got older involved her apprehension in becoming queen and how she often wished she wasn’t an only child. Catra found a lot of the entries were boring but insightful nonetheless and she found there were many aspects of her own personality she could attribute to Neara’s personality in her writing, she felt closer to her and the thought made her smile. </span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra looked back down to where she left the journal the drawing fell out of, she was putting off reading it as long as she could, she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to read it, she took a deep breath and sat down and tentatively picked up the journal resting it on her lap. She skimmed through the first few pages, she wasn’t entirely sure what she was looking for until she noticed the entry titled </span>
  <em>
    <span>I lost my best friend</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Today was not a good day, there is so much I want to say here, I just don't have the right words.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I feel terrible</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I feel sick</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I feel like my heart is slowly breaking into tiny pieces.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I suppose we should start from the beginning.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I'm sure i have mentioned that young soldier from Purrsia, Tao, before in these useless journals somewhere, he and his family have visited Half-Moon many times and it's easy to say that we became friends which is good since apparently we have to become familiar with each other as his family is tasked with protecting mine.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I have to admit, many times when he came to visit i wasn't really paying attention to the conversation, i was more distracted and intrigued by his eyes, his piercing blue eyes, there aren't any Magicats here that have anything other then the same golden eyes as me, except for Clawdius.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Clawdius. Today something happened that I wish i could change. </span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Clawdius, I'm so sorry, I wish you hadn't walked in when Tao kissed me.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I wish you had stayed long enough to see me slap him for doing it.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I wish you had come back to me when I called out to you.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I so desperately want to tell you I found your amazing drawing you left behind and I will treasure it forever.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>I'm so very sorry, please come back.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Please.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra’s ears pricked up, she immediately closed the journal and put it down as she heard voices.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Anything?”, she heard someone call out.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothing yet!”, came the answer.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra narrowed her eyes and quietly got up, that voice sounded a little closer. Elliott had heard the voices as well, he looked over to Catra.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra got up and quietly started moving boxes in order to give the children cover,”I need you to stay here with your sisters and be very quiet ok”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Elliott gives her their best serious face and nods, Catra smiles, “be brave for them”.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra quickly and quietly heads out the door, slowly closing it behind her. She sneaked out into the darkness, she was thankfully that even though the moon was shining it wasn’t close enough to expose her hiding spot. She listened intently as the footsteps got closer she heard them stop near the doorway, she looked over and saw the moon casting a long shadow of a Magicat into the room.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The Magicat sighed,”This is pointless”, as he walked into the empty room. Catra waited patiently in the darkness until they got close enough, she jumped out of the shadows and struck the Magicat in the back knocking them to the floor. She moved quickly before they could get to their feet and struck them in the neck, knocking them out.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Catra stood over the unconscious Magicat for a moment, then came up with an idea. She tried to pick up the Magicat but couldn’t.</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Adora’s muscles would come in handy right now</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span>She thought to herself, she changed tactics and decided to drag the Magicat into another room and removed their robe, she pulled the hood over her head and started to make her way downstairs.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Chapter 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Catra clung to the wall, hiding in the shadows as she slinked down the stairs, her ears pricked up as she heard the voice of the other magicat cursing under their breath. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Found anything yet?”, the Magicat shouts out into the darkness, for a few moments there was silence. The Magicat sighs and walks over to the balcony and leans over,”Hey! Did you find anything!?”, they shouted a little louder.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra swiftly approaches from her hiding spot and snatches the Magicat by their hood, throwing them up against the wall and the slump to the floor,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"So you're the one that has made Clawdius lose his mind", they say with winded breath, trying to get to their feet.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra smiles,"funny, you say that like it's a bad thing" She lunges at the Magicat, who quickly rolls out of the way and creates a rune that send out a chain towards Catra, she dodges sidesteps it and grabs the chain yanking on it, The magicat slides across the ground towards her,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well that was easy, seems you need to learn how to fight better”, Catra says as she stands over the Magicat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Magicat brings over their other hand and sends a lightning bolt up the chain, sending a shock through Catra, she screams stunned and frozen in place. The Magicat gets behind her, putting her in a choke hold, she tries to get free but the electricity is stopping her muscles from working properly, her eyes slowly start to close.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Stay away from aunty Catra!" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Comes a tiny voice, the grip around Catra’s neck loosens and she falls forward breathing heavily. She turns around to see one of the twins clawing at the Magicats face while the other is biting the Magicat’s thigh. Elliott kicks him in the back of the knees he falls down.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Magicat goes to strike one of the children. Catra growls and sends out two balls of ice binding the Magicats hands to the ground, Elira continues to claw at the Magicats face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra runs over and picks her up,"ok bean sprout I think that's enough"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Elira yells ,"let me go! I'm gonna tear their face off!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra stares at her in shock,"whoa, whoa, whoa, who said you could do that!?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Elliott said we could!", said Bethiah while spitting out bits of fur.</span>
</p><p> </p><p><span>Catra sighs and gently picks both of them up by the back of their collars</span> <span>and puts them down next to Elliott, </span></p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I told you to be brave for them, not to turn them into tiny war criminals!", Catra said in a stern voice.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Elliott hangs his head,"sorry aunt Catra"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra kneels down and smiles softly,”Hey, It's ok, just next time try not to be so feral”. She looks over to the twins,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now all of you need to stay right here while I talk to our new friend ok”, they all nod. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra walks over to the Magicat and smacks them upside the head, they glare at Catra trying to get out of their restraints, she kneels down in front of them and smiles,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now you’re going to tell me why Clawdius is here and what he wants”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Magicat scoffs,”Why should I tell you that?”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra brings her face closer to the Magicats ear and whispers, "Because I can </span>
  <em>
    <span>actually</span>
  </em>
  <span> send you to an empty dimension, wouldn’t that be fun?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Magicat looks at Catra, a concerned look on their face,”Impossible. You don’t have that kind of power”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra stands up and takes her pocket watch out letting it float above her palm, the Magicat watches as the pocket watch turns into a staff, Catra wraps her hand around the hilt and envelopes her in a cloud of crimson and black smoke. As the smoke clears revealing Catra’s transformation the Magicat stares in awe,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”The…..the power of the true queen!”, the Magicat bows their head.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra puts the end of her staff under the Magicat’s chin and lifts it back up,”Now be a good kitty cat and answer my question”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Magicat gulps,”He wants to destroy your mother’s bloodline and become our new leader”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“How does he plan to do that?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“By using you to restore the power of the mask”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What about Kywa?, she has the same power?”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The Magicat laughs,”Clawdius already took care of that </span>
  <em>
    <span>problem</span>
  </em>
  <span>”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra clenched her fist, tightening her grip on her staff, the familiar feeling of rage started simmering under the surface.</span>
</p><h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>Kywa walks outside just as a rainbow slash flies across the courtyard, she watches as the tank's occupants get out and make a run for it before the tank explodes as it’s sliced in half and the slash continues through making a hole in the courtyard wall. She-ra walks over and picks up the tank halves using one half to barricade the newly created hole, then throws the other half on a pile of tanks barricading the courtyard entrance.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa walks down the sandstone steps and leans against one of the pillars at the end of the staircase, the pillar instantly crumbles under the weight causing Kywa to fall to the ground with it,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You ok baby?”,Rogue calls out from the top of the staircase trying to hide her laughter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes!”,Kywa growls as she sits up and unhappily flicks pieces of sandstone out of her hair.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Hey! 8ft lady!”, Kywa shouts.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She-ra turns around another tank above her head, “huh?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I </span>
  <em>
    <span>really</span>
  </em>
  <span> hate to pull the princess card here, but I can’t exactly rule from a castle that has holes in it!”, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She-ra looks around and surveys the damage she caused, she gives Kywa an awkward smile and gingerly puts down the tank.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Sorry guess I got a little carried away",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa's eyebrow twitches, "A little!, I can't understand how you saved the universe but can't keep a millennia old castle in one piece!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"ok maybe we just need to take a moment to breathe and look at the positives", Perfuma said smiling, she clasps her hands together and takes a deep breath and whispers,”Even though I told her multiple times to stop picking up tanks”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, oh, I thought of one, the positive is there are no longer any enemies in the courtyard, we should get a 10/10 for that”, Scorpia says proudly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa rolls her eyes,"absolutely stunning revelation, what about...in...the castle",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa sentence trails off as she realises something,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Clawdius, tall, pink and pretty hard to miss, has anyone seen him?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>All the princess’ looked around at each other and shook their heads. Kywa immediately gets up and runs back up the stairs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I'm coming with you", Rogue says, grabbing Kywa’s hand.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No baby, you stay here incase Catra comes back down here with the kids”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa gives Rogue a quick kiss and runs back inside the castle.</span>
</p><p> </p><h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>The pounding anger in Catra’s chest starts running wild, thoughts of running over and permanently wiping the smug smile off the Magicats face being at the forefront of her mind. She looks at Kywa’s bracelet which is now giving off a soft glow, then looks over at the children who are watching her closely.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Be brave for them</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Her own words echoed through her mind. She looks back at Kywa’s bracelet and her eyes widen as she gets an idea. She stands up and runs her hands through her hair,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Let’s see if I can do this”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She takes a deep breath as she points out both her index claws to create a portal, to her amazement the half-moon runes come together and a portal swirls open, she kneels down and waves for the children to come over, she let’s Elliott climb onto her back and she picks up the twins with either arm,”Now hold on to me tight ok”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She walks through the portal and into Brightmoon castle, Catra looks around trying to get her bearings,”Not really where I wanted to be, but close enough”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Catra?! What are you doing here?”, comes Micah’s voice from behind her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She let’s the twins down first before helping Elliott off her back, ”I need you to look after them”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”What is going on?, Where’s Glimmer?”, Micah says with a concerned look on his face.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Glimmer is with Adora, she's fine, Please”, Catra says impatiently.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Of course! Go!”, Catra takes a moment and  tenderly kisses each of them on the head and thanks Micah before heading back through the portal. As the portal closes Micah looks down at the three children staring up at him. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”You kids like cake right?”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra steps out of the portal, breathing heavily she allows her anger to take over, still holding onto her staff she clenches her fists and shifts her focus to the Magicat still bound to the floor, she waves her hands and unbinds them, just as they are about to speak she growls and picks them up by the throat, Kywa’s bracelet emits its white and crimson smoke curling it’s way up Catra’s arm, her eyes become a bright crimson, she pulls the Magicat closer so they are face-to-face,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now you’re going to take me to Clawdius’ little army and we’re going to have a nice, long chat”.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Chapter 20</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>High up in a room overlooking the courtyard a female Magicat stands at the stained glass window shaking her head, watching the princesses fight with what remains of Gabriel's army,"Useless the lot of them. Clawdius has us waiting here for what?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>A male Magicat comes over to see,"I don't get it either. Why are we here doing nothing when we'd be of better use out there?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>An older male Magicat stands up,"You dare question Lord Clawdius' commands? He told us to stay here which is the command we will follow!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The female Magicat scoff,"There's a difference between following commands and following someone blindly, old-timer"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The other Magicats in the room look around at each other, some of them smile at her words others seem incensed. The older Magicat opens his mouth to argue but is stopped by a rumbling coming from outside the room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They all turn to look at the door, for a short moment there is silence, the wall around the door starts to crack and a bright crimson light seeps through. The Magicats clench their fists and ready their runes as the wall blasts into the room. Catra steps over the rubble and throws her captive unconscious magicat to the floor.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Well now what are you all doing hiding in here?",She says smugly. Looking over the Magicats in the room she sees some of them trying to climb out one of the open windows, she creates a rune and blocks all of them up.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Now that's just rude, I haven't had a chance to introduce myself", Catra bares her teeth, "As your Queen!" </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The older Magicats shouts back,"you will never be my queen!", he rushes towards Catra, runes glowing around his clenched fists. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra puts out her hand and the Magicat freezes in place, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Impossible”, comes a quiet murmur amongst the Magicats in the room, some bow their heads and kneel, visibly shaking. Catra smiles and turns her hand over making a fist, bringing the Magicat closer to her,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now that is smart'', She waves her hand and the Magicat lands against the wall and slides to the floor winching. Catra raises an eyebrow as she senses some of the other Magicats trying to surround her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Now!”, shouts one of the Magicats, three of them create rune chains attaching to Catra’s wrists and neck, blue electricity runs along the chains, Catra’s muscle tense up as the electricity surrounds her body, The Magicats grip the chains trying to get Catra to kneel suddenly she clenches her fist and yells, the blue lighting flickers to red, the chains rattle and break away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She narrows her eyes and stares at them, facing her hands towards them as a bright crimson ball starts to form in her palms.</span>
</p><h1>
<span>*</span> <span>*</span> <span>*</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>Kywa runs around the first floor of the castle shouting out Clawdius’ name, she comes to a stop as her nose twitches catching the scent of an open fire. She turns around and makes her way towards Tao’s study.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She peaks around the door frame to see Clawdius sitting at the fireplace in her father’s chair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She walks in quietly, “That’s not yours to sit in”, she snarls.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius looks around seemingly surprised that Kywa is standing there,”I thought I got </span>
  <em>
    <span>rid</span>
  </em>
  <span> of you!”, he stands up to face Kywa.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa without breaking her gaze, moves her head side to side, her bones giving an audible crack, ”You’re gonna have to try a little harder next time”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius laughs,”Challenge accepted!”, before Kywa could react he tackles her out into the corridor and they being to wrestle, Clawdius picks Kywa up and throws her against the wall, Kywa with her free hand scratches Clawdius across the nose, this throws him off enough to let her go, she pushes him against the wall punching him in the stomach.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius growls and grabs her by the hair and throws her to the ground,”You meddling child!”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>As Kywa tries to get to her feet, Clawdius pulls a sword out of a nearby armour stand he twirls it around, he lunges at her and she rolls out of the way. Kywa looks around and tries to make a grab for a sword in another armour stand, Clawdius grabs the stand and throws it behind him Kywa backs up a little one of her ears twitch at the sound of Catra fighting on the other side of the wall. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius takes advantage of her lapse in concentration swinging the sword and grazing her stomach. Kywa yelps and falls down on her back holding her side. Clawdius stood over her holding the tip of the sword against her throat.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Suddenly a massive hole is blown out through the corridor and into an adjacent room. As the dust settles Clawdius looks around as a few of his Magicat’s lie on the ground groaning, he looks out into the corridor and there stood Catra her eyes glowing red,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Clawdius!”, Catra hisses through her teeth,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Oh this is too perfect”, he whispers to himself, “Ah, so the young </span>
  <em>
    <span>Queen </span>
  </em>
  <span>has come to fight me, I do hope you’re a more worthy opponent than your </span>
  <em>
    <span>sister</span>
  </em>
  <span>”, Clawdius smiles and narrows his eyes at Catra hoping his words would have an effect on her, Catra snarls at him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Perfect</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius thought as he got to his feet. He quickly creates two runes, tiny web like strings fly out and attach to Catra they start to bury underneath her skin.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra tried to free herself but the strings won't budge. The more Catra struggles the tighter the strings become, they quickly multiple and cover both her arms. Clawdius moves his hands and starts to pull her in closer,"there's was one thing I never got the chance to ask you", he yanks on the strings hard and forces Catra to her knees.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius smirks as he kneels down and whispers,"how is my dear friend Shadow Weaver?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra looks up at Clawdius,"she's dead, just like you will be!".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra uses all her force to ram her shoulder into Clawdius stomach, throwing him off balance and he takes a few unsteady steps back pulling Catra with him, Catra looked down at her bounded arm, she clicked her fingers and a crimson flame quickly ran up her arm setting it free from the strings.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She grabbed Clawdius' face forcing him back and yelling as she slammed him through the wall, the strings tore apart as Clawdius flew out across the courtyard, much to the other princess' surprise.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Whoa what happened to wild cat?", Scorpia said.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Something’s not right”,She-ra said, an uneasiness in her voice. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She studied Catra's face, staring at her red eyes and thought she would see the same emptiness she saw on Horde Prime’s ship, she didn’t, this was Catra and she knew Catra well enough to know what she was thinking,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”CATRA! STOP!”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra looks over, She-ra shivered feeling as if her glowing red eyes pierced right through her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You weren’t there Adora, when I remembered….”,Catra walks over to Clawdius and pulls him up to his feet,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”....What he did!”, she punched Clawdius who fell onto his back,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"how I ended up with the Horde!", She picked him up and punched him again, Clawdius fell to the ground face first.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Catra, You don’t want to do this!”, She-ra pleads as she approaches Catra.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Actually I do...”, She narrowed her eyes at She-ra,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”...I don’t need saving this time, Adora”, Catra raises her hands and forces She-ra away and immediately encases herself and Clawdius in a barrier. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She-ra tries to slash open the barrier but her sword bounces off, she bangs her fists on the barrier,"CATRA!"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra ignores She-ra's continued pleading and walks over to Clawdius and kicks him onto his back, pushing her heel into his chest. Clawdius winches as the point of Catra’s heel pushes into his skin,”That’s it little one, give into the rage!”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa slowly appears from the other side of the rubble, propped up against the broken wall holding her side, her ears droop as she sees Catra,”Oh no…”, she pushes herself off the wall, and tumbles down into the courtyard.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius locks eyes with Kywa and smiles and turns his focus to Catra,”Finish what you started”, he shouts.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra pressed her foot harder into Clawdius' chest, her clenched fists glow brighter.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“DO IT!”, Clawdius said hissing through his teeth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>...You’re all alone, you’ve lost!</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Glimmer’s words from their confrontation in the fright zone all those months ago come back to her. Catra frowns as she remembers how weak and pathetic she felt, the thought infuriated her more.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>What are you waiting for? Do it</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius scrunches up his face in pain as Catra leans forward putting more weight on his chest.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa winches and groans as she tries to stand, slowly limping over to the barrier, using it to help prop her up, “Catra....”, she says softly.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra’s face softened as she turned around to see Kywa, she blinked as the memory of her hands around Kywa’s neck as they fought in Half-Moon, the rage she felt was replaced with something calmer as she remembered her mother tenderly stroking her hair and how Kywa’s idiotic and sisterly embrace that day made her happy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>You’re not alone anymore.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Came a calm soothing voice. She turned her attention back to Clawdius, her eyes returning to normal as she removed her foot from his chest,”You’re not worth it, Clawdius”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius gives a pained laugh,”You’re weak just like your mother”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra frowns at his words, thinking for a moment and then turns around to face him,”you know there are a few things I learnt in the horde one of them being, I don’t need to kill you to hurt you”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra kneels down and grabs Clawdius by the collar forcing him to sit up, she holds out her hand as Neara’s small silver box materialises. Clawdius' smug expression disappears when he recognises the silver box.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra smirks,”Now Clawdius, what is the one thing that could be worse than death?...”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius is hesitant at first but then reaches out and takes it, using one of his claws to trace the detailing, he opens the box and inside the lid is a message in Neara’s handwriting. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>My Dearest Clawdius, I made this bracelet as a token of my love for you.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius stares at the message reading the sentence over and over again, each time the pounding in his chest became faster and faster. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>His hands start shaking as Catra leans over and whispers,”...living with regret”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius growls and pushes Catra away,”You should’ve just killed me!” he shouts at Catra, his eyes becoming watery.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Catra tilts her head,“Why? When it’s just as cold to have you live with the memory that all the years of rage, selfishness and hurt you’ve inflicted, was done for nothing...”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra stands up and turns her back on Clawdius,”...And trust me, you’ll find it’s a very lonely existence”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Clawdius' anger gets the better of him and he throws the box back at Catra, who effortlessly moves her head out of the way.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra walks over to where Kywa is still touching the barrier, Catra brings down the barrier and immediately and Kywa starts to lose her footing, Catra catches her and pulls her into a hug,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Ow, ow, ow, too tight”, Kywa grunts in pain.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra transforms back to normal but doesn’t let Kywa go, Kywa gives a pained smile and hugs Catra back. They stand in silence for a moment, Kywa can hear Catra softly crying.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know I already told your girlfriend off about wrecking the castle, so now you’re going to have to explain this to dad”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra gives a weak teary giggle,”Really? Is that what you want to say to me right now?”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa tries to laugh but winches,”Thank you Catra, Thank you for saying our home”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>...Our home</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa's words filled Catra with contentment and she hugged her sister tighter.</span>
</p><h1>
  <span>ONE WEEK LATER</span>
</h1><p>
  <span>Adora and Catra make their way through the courtyard, which is filled with stonemasons making repairs to the castle. They head to the truck waiting near the castle gates, Rogue and Kywa are arguing in the front. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I swear if you have us bunny hopping again”, Rogue folds her arms.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa scoffs,”How dare you, my driving is not that bad!”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa looks around to the backseat,”You guys ready?”.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora smiles,”Absolutely”, She notices Catra and Kywa exchange a quiet glance. Catra immediately looks out the window. The drive down towards the market was uneventful, Kywa tried to keep the conversation going, but Adora was more interested in what was going on in Catra’s mind, she had barely said a word.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They get to the markets and Adora gets out and goes over to greet Bow and Glimmer who are already waiting on the ship. Adora looks over to Catra who is taking her time getting out of the car.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>She seems distracted.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She watches as Catra walks over to Kywa, Kywa puts her hand on her shoulder and nods. Adora’s curiosity gets the better of her and she walks over, </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Catra? What's wrong?",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra says nothing and looks at Kywa,”Oh, I’m going to go be...somewhere else”. Catra waits for Kywa to be out of earshot.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I can't go with you, Adora"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What?! Why?! </span>
  <em>
    <span>we</span>
  </em>
  <span> need you", Adora says as she points to Bow and Glimmer,”I need you”, she said a little softer.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I need you too Adora, it's just…", Catra takes a deep breath,"My family needs me more, I need to help them restore Half-Moon, restore Purrsia. You of all people should understand that"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora nods and begins to cry, "Are we breaking up?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What? No you idiot I’m not leaving you or breaking up with you or whatever", Catra holds onto Adora's hands ,"the majority of my life has revolved around you because you are everything to me and you always will be everything to me”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She caresses her face running her thumb tenderly over Adora's cheek,“I want you to go fly across the universe with Bow and Glimmer and when you're done being a hero, i’ll be here...", </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>she kisses Adora deeply, then whispers, "... waiting for you”.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Adora ran through the courtyard of the castle, a small frog quickly jumped out of the way as she took the stairs two by two, she ran down the corridor until she spotted Kywa standing outside Catra's room, her arms folded resting against the wall. She immediately looked up at Adora.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Whoa, you need to calm down",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"I tried to get here as quickly as I could", Adora said breathlessly, bending over holding her knees.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Mother has been in there most of the day",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They both look at the door as they hear the handle turn. A female Magicat leaves the room,"Her Majesty said you can come in now".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora stood up straight, making sure she looked presentable, tightening her ponytail and flattening down her undercut.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You coming in?", Adora asked Kywa.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kywa smiled,"not yet I'm here for mother".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora takes a deep breath and enters the room, the afternoon sun shining softly through Catra's window. Catra was sound asleep and just as beautiful Adora thought, her longer hair laid perfectly around her shoulders while she slept.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Neara turned around to face Adora, in her arms was a small baby with blue eyes and tiny black ears that twitched with every suckle from its bottle. Neara walks over to Adora and gently hands over the baby.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>”Here, hold your little one”,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora sticks her tongue out a little as she concentrates on taking the baby, they fuss a little bit after being unsettled, but once Adora settles them down in the small of her arm and gives back their bottle they settle back down, with their ears twitching again.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"You're going now?"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Neara smiles,”Adora dear, I’ve already spent most of the day fussing over Catra, now it’s your turn”, She gives Adora a kiss on the cheek and the baby a kiss on the forehead and leaves.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora goes and sits down in the chair beside Catra's bed,"hey there little buddy", she whispers,</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Guess you made mama a little tired", </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra's ears twitch and she sleepily opens her eyes, she looks over to where Adora was and smiled,"Hey Adora", she said playfully.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora gets up gently still holding the baby and sits on the bed,"hey yourself mama", As she leans over to kiss Catra, Catra puts an hand on her chest,"Careful"</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"What is it?, Are you ok?",</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>"Geez, I’m fine, this is why I need you to be careful", Catra slowly pulled back the blanket and much to Adora delight, was a baby nestled against Catra's chest, their markings were slightly darker and their eyes were a golden yellow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Adora is almost crying,"TWINS?!".</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Catra laughs and gently caresses Adora's cheek,"Happy Birthday Adora". Adora smiles and carefully bends over and gives Catra a loving kiss,”Best present ever”.</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
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